Sri Lankan trio in cusp of 800m glory
Dilshi Kumarasinghe has high percentage of muscle fibres, which enhances her speed and endurance
Sri Lanka has traditionally produced great women sprinters such as Damayanthi Darsha, Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sriyani Kulawansa, Jayamini Illeperuma and Tilaka Jinadasa, who ruled the roost during the golden era of athletics in the 90s. Sriyani Dhammika Menike was the lone middle-distance runner who represented Sri Lanka in the 800 and 1,500 metre events at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Now the focus seems to have shifted back to the 800m after the emergence of a trio who are on the brink of qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
Dilshi Kumarasinghe, Nimali Liyanarachchi and Gayanthika Abeyratne have become household names after recording Asia’s seasonal best times in the 800m final at the 98th National Athletic Championship held in December. Kumarasinghe, Sri Lanka’s star at the 2019 South Asian Games, ran the best 800m of her life beating Sri Lanka record holder Abeyrathne and 2019 national champion Liyanarachchi while clocking a personal best of 2 minutes 2.80 seconds. Nimali clocked 2:03.80 and Gayanthika 2:03.20. Bahrain’s Nelly Jepkosgei of Sudanese origin clocked the season’s fastest of 2:02.07 in October while the Olympic qualifying standard is 1:59.50.
“This is the first time there are three athletes from Sri Lanka who are among the top in Asia in the 800m women’s event. They have a good chance of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics either by timing or points system if they compete in more competitions,” said Saman Kumara Gunawardena, a senior official of Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA).
The lack of competition seems to be the only stumbling block for this talented trio who are on the cusp of qualifying for the Olympics after clocking phenomenal timings despite the COVID-19 enforced break last year.
Gayanthika
“The best is yet to come from Dilshi. She clocks two minutes during training. It is not difficult to achieve Olympic qualification because the other two are also skilled. It is difficult to run alone,” said Susantha Fernando, coach of 21-year-old Kumarasinghe, a product of Walala Central.
A member of the record-breaking 4x400m Sri Lanka women’s relay team at the 2019 World Athletic Championship in Doha, Dilshi oozed confidence as she hung back before bursting to the line on the home and win by a mile.
“I am confident of qualifying to the Olympics and winning a medal at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games,” said Dilshi, who has a high percentage of muscle fibres which enhances her speed and endurance, according to her coach.
Sri Lanka has the best chance of winning a medal at the 2022 Asian Games if the plan of Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa to contract Elite pool athletes like professional cricketers is pursued, according to Sajith Jayalal, Director of the National Institute of Sports Science.
Nimali
“Earlier we were only thinking only of SAF (SAG) Games in the 800m. In 2013 Nimali won the Asian (Championship) bronze and gold in 2017. Gayanthika also won gold in the Asian Indoor Games. They also won Asian Grand Prix events. The emergence of Dilshi has given a new dimension to our hopes at the Asian Games having failed to win medals in 2010, 2014 and 2018,” said Jayalal.
“To achieve Olympic qualifying is like winning,” said Jayalal, who is coach of Gayanthika who set the pace the Nationals before Dilshi and Nimali went past her in the final stretch.
“My timing was good being the first race of the year,” said Gayanthika who holds the Sri Lanka record in the 800m of 2:02.55 set at the Nationals in 2017 and also ran a personal best in the 1,500m of 4:17 in December.
“It is possible to achieve the Olympic mark if we run in more competitions. Also there are no pace setters in the first round to improve my timing because Dilshi and Nimali tend to hang back. I go for timing not to win the race,” said Gayanthika who is comfortable leading the race.
Dilshi
Her former coach Sujith Abeysekera also concurred that they need more competition to improve their timing proposing that Grand Prix style local events be held apart from the Nationals to be held in April.
“All three are skilled. At least one of them will qualify for the Olympics. They have only two or three races. At their peak they need competition. It is not a big deal getting the Olympic qualifying time. They are in form,” said Abeysekera, who is coach of Nimali who relaunched her career after suffering from Plantar Heel injury during her gold medal winning effort at the Asian Championship in 2017.
“Qualifying to the Olympics is a big achievement. It is the same as winning a medal,” said Nimali who is raring to get back on track after suffering from phlegm for about two months ahead of the Nationals.