Tharushi Karunaratne was placed second at 600m with 1 minute 24.84 seconds to set up new Asian Continental record at Bilbao Reunion International Athletic Meet in Spain on Tuesday.
The promising athlete from Walala Central normally do her pet event 800m but this time she had to run on 600m event in Spain which points also consider for Olympic 800m qualification and Tharushi finished this race behind to Australian athlete Oboya Bendere who finished first with 1.25.53 seconds and Tharushi made good fight to win the second place. Tharushi erased the previous Asian Continental record of 1 minute 28.06 seconds set up by Japanese athlete Ayano Shomi in 2022.
Meanwhile while Sri Lankan 400 m athlete Kalinga Kumarage was placed third in his race with a time of 45.91 seconds at this same meet in Spain. Botswana athlete Busang Collen was placed first with a time of 45.47 seconds while Cuban athlete Yoandyas Leacay was second with a time of 45.71 seconds.
Spain meet is world athletic ‘C’ category (bronze label) meet and points will be considered for Olympic qualification.
However both Kalinga Kumarage and Tharushi Karunaratne are still line for the Paris Olympics having their cut off date on June 30.
Dhammika Ratnaweera
