Hiruni breaks National 5,000 metres record to add to her marathon record

Hiruni Wijeratne broke the women’s 5,000 metres national record at a meet sanctioned by the USA Track and Field authority in USA on Saturday. (File Pic)

by Reemus FeRnando
 
US based Sri Lankan runner Hiruni Wjeratne broke Sri Lanka women’s 5.000 metres National record at a meet sanctioned by the USA Track and Field authority in USA on Saturday. Sri Lanka’s World Athletics Championship participant whose pet event is marathon has clocked 16 minutes and 17.51 seconds to slash one second from the National record established by Nilani Ratnayake last year.

Though she has not secured a top position at the meet running against her US counterparts, the athletics enthusiast consider her feat as a welcome omen in her quest to earn qualifying standards for the postponed Tokyo Olympics. The Athletics Association of Sri Lanka is placing her among the top Sri Lankan contenders to earn Olympic qualifying standards. Wijeratne is also the national record holder of the women’s marathon and is aspiring to earn qualifying standards for the next year’s Olympics. “She has run in 16 minutes and 17 seconds (the 5,000 metres). That is a sign that she is capable of running a faster marathon than her current national record,” General (rtd) Palitha Fernando, the president of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka told The Island.

Sri Lanka’s women’s 5,000 metres record held by Sujeewa Nilmini remained unshaken for 16 years before Nilani Ratnayake shattered that at the Sri
Lanka Army Athletics Championship in August last year. Ratnayake slashed four seconds from Nilmini’s record (16:21.18 secs) forcing athletics officials to pick her for the South Asian Games. Ratnayake is the current Sri Lanka National record holder in the steeplechase and is the highest
ranked Sri Lankan closest to Olympic qualifying standards. Both Nilani and Wjeratne were gold medal winners at the last year’s South Asian Games.