Yupun off to a blistering start before injury scare 

by Reemus Fernando   

Sprinter Yupun Abeykoon produced a remarkable season-opening time before leaving fans wondering as to what slowed him down dramatically in the last few metres to be placed second in the 100 metres final of the Savona International Meet in Italy on Wednesday.

The Italy-based sprinter clocked 10.04 (+2.7 wind) in the heats before returning a wind-aided 10.01 seconds (+2.7) in the final. He was placed second behind Reece Prescod of Britain who clocked 9.94 seconds.

Soon after the final, the fans who watched his impressive performance online were left to wonder whether it was an injury that slowed him down in the last few metres of the race.

In a social media post yesterday Abeykoon said that he had been advised by his physiotherapist to go for a MRI scan 72 hours after the event to assess his situation. The athlete’s Sri Lankan manager was not available for comments.

The wind-aided performance was the fastest start the Sri Lankan record holder had in a season-opening meet. Incidentally, Yupun is the only Sri Lankan athlete to have run that fast with or without the support of the wind.  Abeykoon became the first South Asian to clock sub 10 seconds in the track and field’s most glamorous discipline when he returned a time of 9.96 seconds in a meet held in July last year.

Since then Sri Lanka Athletics has been looking forward for him to end Sri Lanka’s medal drought at international competitions. The former Joseph Vaz College athlete ended the country’s long wait for a medal when he clinched a bronze medal at the last Commonwealth Games.

Currently, Abeykoon is the highest-ranked Sri Lankan male athlete. He is also the only athlete to be within the required range of the World Rankings to be eligible for this year’s World Championships to be held in Budapest. Currently, Abeykoon is in the creditable 19th position in the ‘Road to Budapest 2023’ rankings which lists eligible athletes for the respective events of the World Championships.

He was set to compete against a star-studded lineup that includes world champion Fred Kerley, Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs and Kenyan world leader in the 100 metres this season, Ferdinand Omanyala at the upcoming Golden Gala Pietro Mennea in Florence on June 2.  His availability for the event will be known only after the MRI scan which will be performed later this week.