Unimpressive Tharushi fails to qualify
Sri Lankan sprinter Tharushi Karunaratne ended her quest to advance further in the Women’s 800m event after placing seventh in Heat 4 of the Repechage Round at Stade de France yesterday, where the track and field events of the Paris Olympics 2024 are being held.
Karunaratne completed her second and final opportunity to qualify for the semi-finals with an unimpressive time of 2:06.66, placing seventh, ahead of only Amal Al Roumi of Kuwait, who clocked 2:12.13 to finish eighth.
Majtie Kolberg of Germany and Vivian Kiprotich of Kenya qualified from the heat with times under two minutes. Kolberg clocked 1:59.08 to finish on top, while Kiprotich followed in second with a time of 1:59.31. Despite a time of 1:59.81, Lorea Ibarzabal of Spain failed to make the cut.
On Friday, Karunaratne finished well behind the rest in the Women’s 800m Heat 6 with another unimpressive time of 2:07.76, while the rest of the seven competitors finished the course in under two minutes. Natoya Goule of Jamaica, Claudia Hollingsworth of Australia, and Lilian Odira of Kenya qualified directly to the semi-finals with times of 1:58.66, 1:58.77, and 1:58.83, respectively.
Four other runners recorded times far behind Karunaratne from the overall list of 50 runners qualified for the Women’s 800m event of the Paris Olympics. The three semi-finals will be held tomorrow, beginning at midnight Sri Lanka time.
Karunaratne previously won gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, and the 2023 Asian Athletic Championship held in Bangkok, where she set the Asian Record in the Women’s 800m with an impressive time of 2:00.06.
Today, at 11:05pm Sri Lanka time, Aruna Darshana will compete in the Men’s 400m Heat 5, as the second track and field athlete representing the three-member squad. He will face Davide Re of Italy (44.77), Lionel Spitz of Switzerland (45.25), Zakithi Nene of South Africa (44.74), Lucas Carvalho of Brazil (44.79), Kirani James of Grenada (43.74), Leungo Scotch of Botswana (45.27), and Christopher Morales-Williams of Canada (44.49). Darshana’s personal best in the event is 45.30 seconds.
Dilhani Lekamge will be in action on August 7, when she competes in the Women’s Javelin Throw qualifications from 1:55pm Sri Lanka time.