Ultimate 400m showdown – Junior medallists to challenge seniors

For a long time, the men’s 400m and 4x400m relay have been the glamour events in track and field and being the 400m National champion has always been a prestigious title to achieve.

Sri Lanka has won two Olympic medals – one for the 400m hurdles way back in 1948 and the other for the 200m in 2000, but neither of these events gave Sri Lankans the thrills than the 400m; an event Sri Lanka has been dominating in the Asian Circuit.

Susanthika Jayasinghe, is the athlete who achieved immense success in recent times, with a Silver medal in the Olympic Games (2000) and two medals in the World Championships, apart from several Asian titles. But, it was quarter miler Sugath Thilakarathne who always had most fans.

The poster boy of late 90s, Thilakarathne beating 400m king Michael Johnson in the 1996 Olympic heat set the tone for one of the most successful eras in the history of athletics. His golden year was 1998 and he kept Sri Lankans on their toes, when he dipped under 45 seconds in the 400m to win the Asian Games and Asian Championship Gold medals, together with a thrilling Bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games. Then came the likes of Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Prasanna Amarasekara and Ranga Wimalawansa, where the 400m and 4x400m events kept Sri Lankans on the edge of their seats.

But after 2006, Sri Lanka has not been able to produce a quarter miler to win medals even at the Asian Games. For 12 long years no Sri Lankan quarter miler could go below 46 seconds. The 400m National title was won by athletes who could not even break the 47 second barrier.

However, today a new set of young athletes has risen to the occasion. With the Asian Games around the corner, the current performance of these youngsters has once again given hope to many, Sri Lanka can grab their first Asian Games medal in 12 years.

It was Dilip Ruwan, an athlete who had not won at the school level who first turned the tables over seasoned athletes to win the 400m National Championship, some years back. Over the years, Dilip has been gradually improving his performances and last year was able to dip under 46.5 seconds. Ajith Premakumara, another athlete who never excelled in the school arena, dipped under 46.5 seconds in 2017. The duo was joined by seasoned 400m runner Kalinga Kumarage, who was younger than Dilip but had more experience and with school athlete Tharusha Dhananjaya formed the 4x400m relay quartet, which produced a Silver medal at the 2017 Asian Championship.

Then came, the firing up from the youngsters: Aruna Darshana shattered the Sri Lanka junior record in the 400m going under 47 seconds. He was followed by another schoolboy, Pasindu Kodikara who also dipped under 47 seconds. The duo won Gold and Silver at the South Indian Junior Athletic Championship and followed it winning the same combination of medals at the Asian Junior Championship.

It was Aruna’s Asian Junior Gold medal winning time that caught the attention. Aruna clocked 45.79 seconds, the best time by a Sri Lankan in 12 years, a new Asian Junior Championship record.

Sri Lanka had more thrills at home. Kalinga Kumarage clocked 46.08 seconds in April. Dilip Ruwan also clocked his personal best of 46.39 seconds. Ajith Premakumara too dipped under 47 seconds coming off an injury.

Since these amazing times by quarter milers, many fans eagerly awaited to see all these amazing quarter milers compete on one stage. They had to wait quite a while and now they have got that chance.

Aruna Darshana, the Asian Junior Champion, World Junior semi-finalist and Sri Lanka’s fourth fastest quarter miler will now take on seniors. Kalinga Kumarage, the fifth fastest Sri Lanka 400m runner ever, will want to keep his senior number one position. Dilip Ruwan who has been number one Sri Lankan 400m runner during the last few years, will be eyeing to regain his lost pride.

Pasindu Kodikara (46.70) the Asian Junior Silver medallist, will also be eyeing to move forward. Ajith Premakumara who also has clocked several sub 47 second runs, Tharusha Dhananjaya who clocked the first 400 m run under 47 second, raced by a Sri Lankan this year will be eyeing to break into the relay team.

Experienced campaigners of the likes of Anjana Gunaratne, who represented Sri Lanka in the 2014 Asian Games and Chanaka Jayasekara who represented Sri Lanka in the 2013 IAAF World Championship, are also in contention for places in the relay team. Also, it will be no surprise if athletes such as former National champion Kasun Kalhara and young Ravishka Indrajith who ran excellent relay laps at World Juniors, break into the finals.

No doubt, it’s going to be the fastest 400m National level race in 12 years but will the seniors retain their pride or will Aruna roar once again at the Sugathadasa? We will find out on Saturday (4th) morning.

In the other events, the ever changing men’s long jump will provide a thrilling contest, where Janaka Prasad Wimalasiri who had leapt 8.11m early this year, will be challenged by the likes of Amila Jayasiri and Danushka Sandaruwan for the title.

In women’s 800m, once again it will be a battle between Nimali Liyanarachchi and Gayanthika Abeyrathne as the Junior Champion, Dilshi Kumarasinghe will not compete in the Nationals due to the Advance level exam.

Advance level exams will see another sprinter, Amasha de Silva opting out and Rumeshika Rathnayake will have to run the 100m and 200m all by herself and achieve her targets as all other senior competitors aren’t even near Rumeshika’s performances in the event.

The Men’s 100m will be hampered by the lack of the two fastest sprinters this year, Yupun Priyadarsha and Vinoj Suranjaya de Silva. Yupun is out due to an injury while Vinoj who suffered from dengue may not take part. Nevertheless, South Asian Champion of the event, Himasha Eashan, who has not had a great year so far, is eyeing for a comeback with a personal best in the event.

The veteran high jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekara will return to his pet event. This time he will have stiff competition from youngster Ushan Thiwanka who leapt 2.24 m at the National trials. Ushan’s leap resulted in the omission of Manjula from the Asian Games but Manjula will be determined to make a fitting reply to his omission.

The National Championship, sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom, will be worked off as a fitness test and trials for the Asian Games team. Failure to achieve the targeted performance standards for athletes will result in them being omitted from the Asian Games. Accordingly, the AASL is set to name a 22 member or lesser team for the Asian Games after the three – day Championship.