By Reemus Fernando
From St. Joseph’s Balika Kegalle athlete Kumari Ratnayake to Kathaluwa Central , Ahangama sprinter Nirmali Madushika there had been more than half a dozen sprinters who had shown potential in their teens to win medals at the senior international level in the women’s 400 metres during the last decade.
Ratnayake won a Commonwealth Youth Games medal in 2011 and Madushika won a bronze at the Asian Youth Games. There were many other promising 400 metres sprinters including Nadeeshani Henderson (Asian Junior Medallist) who dominated junior track events in their teens. When these athletes were hogging the limelight in the one-lap race at the junior level, Nadeesha Ramanayake, who won the Asian Athletics Championship gold in Thailand on Thursday was yet to take up the discipline. When she made the Junior National Championship debut in the Under 18 3,000 metres she was placed sixth and Rathnayake was the winner of the Under 18 girls’ 400 metres.
Today none of the aforesaid athletes are active in track and field to continue the legacy of Damayanthi Dharsha and Menaka Wickramasinghe at the Asian level.
W.G.M. Thushara had identified Nadeesha’s talent when he was at Rajapaksa Central, Weeraketiya and he first introduced her to long-distance events where she just made the numbers at Junior Nationals. After being introduced to 400 metres sprints it took half a decade for Ramanayake to establish her place as the top 400 metres runner in Sri Lanka. Her series of triumphs commenced in 2018. She won four consecutive national titles from 2018 to 2021 but her winning times were yet to match international standards as the 400 metres lacked competition to get her best.
At the Centenary National Championships in 2022 she was beaten to third place by teenagers Tharushi Karunaratne and Jayeshi Uththara as she returned a below-par time of 54.29 seconds in the final. That was no reason for her to give up as she bounced back stronger this year with a personal best of 52.80 seconds at the selection trial to secure her place in the team for the Asian Athletics Championships.
Yet there were hardly any predictions of medals as she was set to compete against athletes who had produced sub 53 seconds multiple times this year. India’s Aishwarya Mishra had clocked sub 53 seconds at least three times. But from the time she competed in the heats, Nadeesha indicated that she was the athlete to beat as she advanced to the final as the fastest.
It seemed both the athlete and her coach Thushara had planned meticulously for her to peak at the right time as she produced her personal best in the final to clinch gold ahead of Soliewa Farida of Uzbekistan and India’s Aishwarya.
Some of Asia’s top athletes including former world champion Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser were not there to fight for the title but for an athlete who had remained an underdog even in her own country, it was a huge accomplishment.