Abeykoon renews Sri Lanka 100m record

Olympian Yupun Abeykoon renewed the Sri Lanka 100 metre record at an international athletic meeting in Dassau, Germany on Wednesday, the first athlete from South Asia to clock under 10.10 seconds.

Abeykoon clocked 10.06s, with a headwind of -0.2, to break the Sri Lanka record of 10.15s that he ran in Italy last year.

In finishing first in the final of the event in Dassau, Abeykoon beat Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, who has clocked the fastest time in the 100m so far this year.

Last week, Abeykoon ran a personal best time of 10.04s in the 100m final at the City of Savona athletic meet running alongside current Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs, but the excessive wind assistance of +2.3 meant it was not deemed legal and scrubbed off as a new national record. 

On Sunday, Abeykoon broke the Sri Lanka 200 metre record clocking 20.37s in another meet in Italy.

(SP)