Yupun fails to fire, misses World Championships semis
Abeykoon, who became the first Sri Lankan sprinter to run a sub 10 second in the Men’s 100m a fortnight ago, clocked 10.19secs and was placed fifth in the third of the seven heats, which determined the final 18 sprinters who would compete in the semi-finals of the event. Trayvon Bromell of the USA won the third heat with a timing of 9.89secs, to qualify for the semi-final, alongside Arthur Cisse of Ivory Coast, who clocked 10.02secs and Rodrigo do Nascimento of Brazil, who finished at third at 10.11secs.
“Can’t be happy with the results today, I wanted to be in the semi-finals, nevertheless, things did not work out as planned due to hectic issues,” Abeykoon had commented on his social media platforms.
Canada’s Jerome Blake was the only sprinter to finish above Abeykoon with a timing of 10.16secs. Subsequently Abeykoon was placed 30th overall among 56 sprinters who competed in seven heats, and ends the journey in his debut IAAF World Championship.
“However, it’s time to talk with my team and study the mistakes and work on those details,” he added..
Abeykoon, who is currently based in Italy, had claimed the Sri Lankan and South Asian records in the Men’s 100m on several occasions, beginning from September 8, 2020, when he clocked 10.16secs at an athletic event held in Dessau, Germany. On May 13, 2021 he renewed the record by clocking 10.15secs at the Meeting di Savona Championship held in Italy. Weeks later, during the same month Abeykoon clocked 10.09secs at Anhalt 2021 in Germany to better his own record at national and regional levels.
Later in 2021, Abeykoon earned the rare honour of becoming the first Sri Lankan to represent the country at the Diamond League, where he performed impressively to earn qualification for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. On July 3, 2022, Abeykoon won the Men’s 100m event at the Resisprint International 2022 held in Switzerland, clocking 9.96secs, becoming the first Sri Lankan to do so, and putting his country in the 32nd place to do so, and the 167th sprinter to clock sub-10. This earned him the passage to the IAAF World Championships.
It was no secret that Abeykoon and his team, based in Italy, had to undergo a stressful period due to visa handling matters, where he and his team had to forego their usual training sessions, as they had to work out on a way to find a obtain the visa and his team to be in Oregon, USA for the ongoing elite athletic event.
Despite the local athletic authorities failing to assist the local sprinter, Abeykoon had perfectly shown by action and proof that he deserves the much needed exposure to compete among the best in the world.
Yet the local athletic officials have shown their interest only on a selected group of individuals. Sri Lanka Cricket recently came up with an annual sponsorship of US$ 50,000 to support the athlete for a period of two years.