High Jumper Seniru keeps medal hope alive

High Jumper Seniru Amarasinghe and quarter miler Dilan Bogoda have performed best for Sri Lanka so far at the Youth Olympic Games by finishing fourth and fifth in the first round of their events of the competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Competing under the extreme cold weather of less than 12 degrees and under a slight drizzle Seniru cleared 2.05M and finished in fourth position.

The Youth Olympic Games 2018 are held under new competition standards, where events will be held under 2 stages and Athletes will have to perform at their best in the both stages to get a medal in the competition.  The average performance in both events will decide the medal.

Hence Seniru will have good chance of finishing on the podium if he can get into the top three at the next stage which will be held on the 14 October (15th October 00.35am SL time) .

The Royalist who trains under Luis Miranda, did look good in clearing his height but visibly seemed to find it difficult to adjust to the conditions; and he had to be under an umbrella in the middle the track, to avoid getting wet before jumps. Due to clearing 2.14 in a previous occasion he was ranked fourth in the world, going into the championship.

Bogoda seemed unaffected by the cold weather as he clocked a personal best 48.52 seconds to finish third in the heat and an overall fifth in the event. He will go into the final of the 400m on 14 October (15th October 00.40am).