Nilani Ratnayake

Nilani Ratnayake also spelt as Nilani Rathnayake or Nilani Rathnayaka (born 8 August 1990) is a Sri Lankan steeplechaser.[1] She is the first and only Sri Lankan female steeplechase runner ever in history to have completed running the 3000 meters steeplechase in less than under 10 minutes.[2] She is currently attached with the Sri Lanka Army.

Nilani Ratnayake
U.K.N Rathnayaka of Sri Lanka won Bronze Medal in Women's 1500m Run in Athletics, at 12th South Asian Games-2016, in Guwahati on February 11, 2016.
Personal information
NationalitySri Lankan
Born8 August 1990 (1990-08-08) (age 33)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)1500 m, 3000 m,
ClubArmy
Coached bySajith Jayalal (personal)
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)3000 m – 9:40.24 (2022)

Career

She claimed her maiden national title at the 2013 National Athletic Championships. She also then broke the national record in women's steeplechase discipline at the 2013 National Championship. However the national record was eventually surpassed by Eranga Dulakshi in 2014 when Dulakshi claimed the 2014 Sri Lanka Athletic Championship which was also the only time Nilani couldn't win the title.[3]

She has notably improved upon the national record in women's steeplechase event at least on four occasions since 2015. She won National Athletic Championships in the discipline of steeplechase nine times (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022) and the only time she missed out on winning the national title between the time frame 2013 and 2022 was in 2014. She maintained her unbeaten streak at National Athletic Championship from 2015 to 2022 winning the national titles on eight consecutive occasions.[4]

She achieved running steeplechase event in less than 10 minutes for the first time way back in 2018 with a timing of 9:46.76 seconds when she went onto claim the 2018 Athletic National Championships. She also represented Sri Lanka at the 2018 Asian Games and it also marked her debut appearance at the Asian Games. During the 2018 Asian Games, she finished sixth with a timing of 9:54.65 seconds in the women's 3000 metres final.[5]

One of her top notch performances came at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships in Doha when she nearly put up a medal winning performance after securing a berth in the women's 3000m steeplechase final. However, she failed to claim the medal after tumbling at the final barrier and managed to finish only outside the stadium.[6]

She narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics owing to lack of quality competitions and lack of support from officials.[7] It was revealed that Nimali Liyanaarachchi qualified to Tokyo Olympics as a wild card entrant granted by World Athletics only after Nilani Ratnayake had failed to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in the women's 3000m steeplechase.[8] Nilani by the time had ranked 46th globally in the Road to Olympic Rankings and thus missing out on an Olympic qualification by the barest of all margins.[9] She was also one of the athletes among the Sri Lankan contingent to have participated at the 60th National Inter-State Athletics Championships in New Delhi, India as part of the preparations prior to the 2020 Olympics.[10][11][12]

In April 2022, she improved her own national record in the women's 3000m steeplechase with a timing of 9:40.24 seconds when she claimed her ninth career national title in the women's 3000m steeplechase event.[13][14]

On 26 April 2022, the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka named her in the team of eight athletes for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and it also marks her maiden Commonwealth Games appearance.[15][16][17] She was selected by Sri Lanka Athletics as one of the track and field athletes to represent Sri Lanka at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as she was eligible for selection based on her performances at the 100th National Athletic Championships which was held in April 2022 where she claimed the national title in the women's 3000m steeplechase event.[18][19] The 100th National Athletic Championships served as the final trials to select the Sri Lankan contingent for both the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Asian Games with the latter had to be indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19 concerns in China.[20]

She represented Sri Lanka at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and competed in the women's 3000m steeplechase.[21][22] She also became the first ever Sri Lankan steeplechaser ever to compete at a World Athletics Championship event and it also marked her debut appearance at the World Athletics Championship. Her participation along with Gayanthika Abeyratne and Yupun Abeykoon for the 2022 World Athletic Championship was clouded with uncertainties owing to delays in obtaining US visas in order to participate at the competition. She secured 13th spot in the heats with a timing of 9:54.10 seconds and thus failed to progress to the next round.[23]

References
  1. "U. K. Nilani Ratnayaka - Athlete Profile, Medals, Results, News, Photos and Videos". olympic.lk. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  2. "Nilani Ratnayake inches forward but bigger hurdles await six more". Sunday Observer. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  3. Weerasooriya, Sahan. "Nilani improves on her 'Road to Oregon 2022' rankings". Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  4. Walpola, Thilina. "Sajith wants Nilani to gain maximum for future success". Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  5. "Athletics - Women's 3000m Steeplechase". Asian Games 2018 Jakarta Palembang. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  6. Weerasooriya, Sahan. "Nilani resolute despite heartbreak". Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  7. Vasudevan, Estelle (5 July 2021). "Nilani Rathnayake's Olympic dreams shattered". ThePapare.com. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  8. "Nimali grabs Olympic spot from Nilani". Print Edition – The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 12 October 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  9. Weerasooriya, Sahan. "A year after Olympic qualifying debacle, will Nilani face the same predicament?". Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  10. Ratnaweera, Dhammika. "Focus on Nilani Ratnayake as SL athletes leave for India". Daily News. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  11. "Foreign flavour at National Inter-State Athletics Championships". The Indian Express. 25 June 2021. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  12. Rayan, Stan (23 June 2021). "Arduous journey for Lankan athletes". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  13. Kumarasinghe, Chathura (19 June 2022). "Nilani registers her second-fastest timing". ThePapare.com. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  14. "Sumedha and Nilani claim top awards at SLA Centenary Nationals". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  15. "Twenty-two players selected for Commonwealth Games in UK | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  16. Ranasinghe, Dinushki (26 April 2022). "AASL selects team for Commonwealth and Asian Games". www.thepapare.com. Dialog Axiata. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  17. Kaluarachchi, Anjana (26 April 2022). "SLA selects teams for Commonwealth and Asian Games". Ceylon Today. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  18. Admin (9 April 2022). "WATCH - Nilani Ratnayake shatters 3000m NATIONAL RECORD". ThePapare.com. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  19. Kaluarachchi, Anjana (24 April 2022). "Nilani, Sumedha best Athletes". Ceylon Today. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  20. "Centenary National Athletic Championships Sumedha and Nilani adjudged best overall - Sports | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  21. Kumarasinghe, Chathura (30 June 2022). "Three Athletes qualify for World Athletics Championships". www.thepapare.com. Dialog Axiata. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  22. "Three Lankan athletes for World Championships". Colombo, Sri Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  23. Kumarasinghe, Chathura (16 July 2022). "Nilani makes an impressive World Championship debut". ThePapare.com. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
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