Gayanthika sets up two Sri Lanka records

Gayanthika Abeyratne stole the limelight on the final day of the 99th National Athletic Championships Stage-2 when she established two new records at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

The-34-year-old from Sooriyawewea won the 1,500m with a time of four minutes 09.12 seconds and once again came up with a fine performance in the 5,000m with a time of 15 minutes and 55.84s beating the previous record of 16:17.52s set by Hiruni Wijayaratne in 2019.

The previous record of 4:15.86s in the 1,500m was set by Nimali Liyanaarachchi at the 2019 Nationals.

In addition, Sachini Perera bettered her own Sri Lanka record by a centimetre (3.47m) in the Women’s pole vault while South Asian Gold Medallist Sarangi Silva also bettered her own long jump record by four centimetres (6.48m).