Ayomal Akalanka smashes 26-year-old Sri Lankan 400m hurdles record

Rising Sri Lankan athletics star Ayomal Akalanka has made history by shattering a 26-year-old Sri Lankan national track and field record during an athletics championship in China.Competing at the inaugural Asian Under-23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, the young Sri Lankan prodigy clocked a phenomenal 49.03 seconds in the men’s 400m hurdles event to clinch the silver medal.His performance erases the previous national record of 49.44 seconds, which was set over two decades ago by Harijan Ratnayake on August 31, 2000, during the Asian Athletic Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.Akalanka, who trains under the guidance of veteran coach Anura Bandara, bypassed the previous record by a staggering 0.41 seconds. With this performance, he now holds the Sri Lankan Youth, Junior, and Senior National Records—an extraordinary achievement for one athlete.This silver medal is also Sri Lanka's first-ever medal at the Asian U23 Athletics Championships, marking a milestone for Sri Lankan athletics.Akalanka had already made headlines earlier in his career by becoming the first Sri Lankan junior athlete to run a sub-50-second race, clocking 49.90 seconds at the All-Island School Games.