Haathim betters three records
A.I.M. Haathim of St. Peter’s College is making waves in the pool as he established three records during the 48th Sri Lanka Schools Swimming Championship being worked off at the Sugathadasa pool. The 13-year-old young prodigy clocked 1:02.89secs in the Under-14 100m butterfly, shattering a record that stood for 28 long years. The previous record of 1:03.17secs was established by Gihan Ranathunga in 1995 and Haathim was nearly five seconds faster than his closest rival—Jaden de Silva (1:07.28secs) of Stafford International School.
He then had nearly five seconds improvement in the boys U-14 200m Individual Medley clocking 2:26.50secs. The previous record established by Bihandu Hansana in 2019 stood at 2:31.49secs. He was over 16 seconds faster than the second place, winner Sinura Wijesinghe of St. Joseph’s College, who clocked 2:43.01secs
Haathim’s third record came in the Boys 50m Butterfly—his pet event. He produced a time of 28.61secs, erasing the previous record of 29.22secs by Bhanuka Jayathilake recorded in 2017. He is being trained by Shehaan Dias, the head coach at St. Peter’s College.