Hiruni Shatters South Asian record- In to the World Championship
US-based Sri Lankan Marathoner Hiruni Wijayarathne qualified for the forthcoming IAAF World Championship 2019 as she finished second in the Düsseldorf Marathon 2019 held in Germany on Sunday (28th).
Hiruni clocked 2 hours 34 minutes and 10 seconds in the race, shattering her own Sri Lanka record set in January 2018 while also achieving the qualification standard for the forthcoming IAAF World Championship in Doha, which will be her second world championship. Her time also bettered South Asian record as previous best by South Asian Women in Marathon was 2:34.43 seconds by India’s O.P.Jaisha which she ran in the 2015 IAAF World Championship.
The Marathon commenced at 1.00 pm SL time, with Hiruni aiming to approximate her own National record of 2:36.35 to qualify for the world championship: which she did in emphatic fashion, shaving 2 minutes 25 seconds off her earlier best timing.
Speaking to Ceylon Athletics, Hiruni confessed she almost gave up the race in the last 10km, but was spurred on to persevere by the thought of the suffering endured by fellow Sri Lankans last week and a determination to finish the race for their sake.
“My legs were cramping, stomach in knots. I just kept telling myself I had to be strong. This is not pain compared to the pain my fellow Sri Lankans endured last week”, said Hiruni after the race.
She had an excellent race in the first 35 km, where she was leading the women until finally overtaken by a German. “It was quite windy, temperatures were 7-10 degrees Celsius. The race was excellent. I was first among the women from the very beginning. I went through 21km at 1:15:40, which was the pace to clock 2:32, and kept the lead as the first woman until 35km, when I was passed by a German”, added Hiruni.
The Marathon attracted 20,000 runners from around the world competing for glory in the German city of Dusseldorf.
Hiruni started the year clocking the second fastest half marathon time by a Sri Lankan female runner when she finished third in the Mesa-Phoenix half marathon held in Arizona, USA earlier this year. She is the Sri Lanka record holder of both the marathon and half marathon; represented Sri Lanka at the IAAF World Championship 2017, Commonwealth Games 2018 and Asian Games 2018; has now qualified for the forthcoming IAAF World Championship 2019, and will be aiming to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
