Youth hurdlers reviving White’s legacy at Asian level  

Waiting for the next Olympic hurdler – Part VII 

by Reemus Fernando  

Sri Lanka has excelled in sprint events at South Asian and Asian athletics events and the general belief is that the country’s strength is in sprints. But of all Olympic track and field disciplines sprint events were the least competed at Olympics by Sri Lankan athletes during the last four editions.  The 400 metres hurdles, the event in which Duncan White won the country its first Olympic medal in 1948, is the least discussed discipline with regard to medal prospects at the international level now. But quite conspicuously according to our analysis, the 400 metres hurdles has been the most medal producing track and field event for Sri Lanka at youth level in Asia.  

The last two pieces of this series discussed what became of two 400 metres hurdlers who excelled at the first Asian Youth Athletics Championship in 2015. Though the 2015 edition was the first Asian track event for youth athletes (Under-18), the Asian Youth Games, which was introduced as the Asian version of the Youth Olympics in 2009, also presented a valuable opportunity for youth in Asia to gain international exposure. 

In 2013 Sri Lanka won four medals in the Games held in Nanjing, China. Of them, two were from hurdles events. While Nirmali Madushika and Dilhani Fernando won the 400 metres and 800 metres bronze medals in the female category at the 2013 event, Akila Ravisanka and Anuradha Vidusanka won boys’ 110 metres and 400 metres hurdles events respectively. Sri Lanka certainly had an opportunity to build on this success had the next Games were held in Sri Lanka as scheduled. Hambantota had been awarded the 2017 edition of the Games but it did not see the light of day as it was later awarded to Jakarta before it was cancelled.  

At the 2015 Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Doha, when Yamani Dulanjali won gold in the girls’ 400 metres hurdles, the corresponding boys’ event final featured two Sri Lankan hurdlers. Both were in contention for medals but Uditha Chandrasena had to settle for fourth place. St. Sylvester’s College, Kandy hurdler Harshana Rajapaksha clinched silver with a time of 52.88 seconds.  

Two years later Navodya Sankalpa from Mahinda College, Galle won the bronze at the Asian Youth Championship with a time of 53.86 seconds.  

Meanwhile, at Asian Junior events, Kaushalya Madushani won a silver in the 400 metres hurdles with a 62.31 seconds feat in 2014. Both Navodya and Madushani were still engaged in athletics when the pandemic struck Sri Lanka in 2020. Madushani is among a very few female athletes to have continued in athletics after leaving school. She has two medals from the last two South Asian Games as well. 

The achievements of country’s youth athletes at Asian level can be largely attributed to the competition at the school level. Despite all hindrances including lack of hurdles and encouragement for the event, there are a number of schools that take up this discipline seriously. Thanks to their efforts there is quite a competition in hurdles events at the youth level. Hence medal success at the Asian Youth level. In general, all track and field events see a drop of standards when athletes reach junior (Under-20) level. There is a drastic drop in the number of participants in hurdles events in the Under-20 category. That further dwindles at the senior level. Results at an international level are quite predictable.