Indunil shatters 800m National Record in Kenya

By www.ceylonathletics.com | June 16, 2018 | English, Latest News, Top Stories

Middle distance runner, Indunil Herath shattered the long standing record in the 800m of Sri Lanka, clocking 1 minute 47.13 seconds in Kenya short while ago.

Indunil,25 who trains in Kenya, placed second in the Kenyan President’s Cup when clocking this record breaking time.He broke the 25 year old SL record of 1:47.56 seconds set by Ranjith Subasinghe back in 1993 south Asian Games.

The South Asian Games gold medalist skipped the Commonwealth Games, targeting the Asian Games later this year where he skipped the trials and continued to train in Kenya.

Indunil had a previous best of 1:48.69 seconds and one of best SL prospects to win an Asian Games medal. He won a silver medal at the Asian Indoor Games last year where he took off from the blocks as the gun fired and started running from that point on.

His tactical errors with starting off on a slower run resulted in him finishing fifth in both 2015 and 2017 Asian Championship where the middle distance runner changed his approach to achieve success.

Athlete hailing from A. Rathnayaka CC Walala was training under former 800m champion V. Ratnakumara before he went off to Kenya.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Sri Lanka
2009	Asian Youth Games	Singapore	3rd	800 m	1:56.33
2010	Youth Olympic Games	Singapore	3rd (B)	1000 m	2:27.57
2012	Asian Junior Championships	Colombo, Sri Lanka	7th	400 m	48.82
			5th	800 m	1:49.94
			4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:11.79
2014	Lusophony Games	Bambolin, India	4th	800 m	1:57.27
2014	Lusophony Games	Bambolin, India	1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:19.02
2015	Asian Championships	Wuhan, China	5th	800 m	1:51.51
2016	South Asian Games	Guwahati, India	1st	800 m	1:51.46
2016	Asian Indoor Championships	Doha, Qatar	8th	800 m	1:57.26
2017	Asian Championships	Bhubaneswar, India	5th	800 m	1:50.57
2017	Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games	Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	2nd	800 m	1:49.45