Himasha shatters SL record in trials

By Susil Premalal

National and South Asian sprint champion Himasha Eshan set up a new Sri Lanka record on the second day of the athletics first selection trials 2019 worked off at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday (24).

The 22-year-old athlete from Army SC clocked 10.22 seconds to win the Men’s 100 metres final while erasing the previous best of 10.27 seconds held by Vinod Suranjaya Silva in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2018.

In fact, Eshan had earlier clocked 10.11s in the first heats and once again he returned a time of 10.12s in the semi-finals on Friday.

However, both achievements were not considered for a meet record by the officials due to the favourable wind conditions.

The previous record holder Suranjaya was placed second in the Men’s 100m with a time of 10.64s. In the heats he clocked 10.27s.

The trials were conducted in preparation for the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships in Qatar and the South Asian Games (SAG) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The second selection trials will be held on March 22 at the same venue. The final squad for the Asian Athletics Championships will be named after this meet.