A new 100m PB for Yupun Abeykoon

Excess tailwind invalidates a new South Asian record

Sri Lankan sprinter Yupun Abeykoon ran a personal best of 10.04 secs in the Men’s 100m at the City of Savona International Meeting yesterday, although an over-the-limit tailwind meant it did not count as a new South Asian record. 

Abeykoon finished second to Olympic Champion Marcell Lamont Jacobs in the first heat of the event and bettered his previous personal best of 10.09 secs from last year, which was also run with an excess tailwind. 

Abeykoon placed fourth in the final, and though running with a legal tailwind of +0.3, just missed out on breaking his South Asian record, finishing with a time of 10.16 secs – 0.01 secs shy of the record. 

Last year, Abeykoon became the first Sri Lankan to compete in the Men’s 100m at a Diamond League event before taking part in the Men’s 100m at the Tokyo Olympics, making him the first male in 25 years to compete in that distance at an Olympic games.