by Reemus Fernando
More than half a dozen top national athletes will have tough Olympic qualifying marks or achieving better world rankings as their prime targets when they compete for the first time in more than a year at the 98th National Athletics Championship which will be conducted under strict health guidelines at the Sugathadasa Stadium, starting on Saturday.
Currently steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake is the highest ranked Sri Lankan athlete. Though she is yet to achieve the tough Olympic qualifying standard of nine minutes and 30 seconds in her pet event, the impressive performances in 2019 including a 9:48.38 secs feat at the World Military Games has positioned her at a creditable 30th place in the World Athletics rankings. With her ticket for Tokyo almost booked, Ratnayake will be striving to achieve a better world ranking. Some 45 athletes will be selected for Olympics women’s 3000metres steeplechase. Currently only 18 athletes (of whom nine are Kenyans) have achieved the tough qualifying standard. Ratnayake is among the 27 others who are in the ranking quota to compete in Tokyo. It would also be interesting to watch how schools athletes, Youth Olympics medallist Parami Wasanthi and her schoolmate Ashmika Herath cope up with the pressure of competing against seniors in the steeplechase.