Sri Lanka’s top open water swimmer, Dilanka Shehan, has made history by setting a new Sri Lankan record in the 5km event at the World Aquatic Championship is being continued in Doha, Qatar, from February 2 to 18.
Shehan, a 24-year-old swimmer from the Sri Lanka Army, finished the 5km race in 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 90 seconds, breaking the previous record set by I. Theekshana in 2020, which was 1 hour, 6 minutes, and 20 seconds. Shehan’s new record beat his own personal best by six minutes, which was previously 1 hour, 6 minutes, and 45 seconds.
His outstanding performance has brought pride to Sri Lanka, as he finished as the second-best in South Asia, just behind India’s Manjunath Hiremagalur, who finished in 57 minutes and 43 seconds. Shehan also ranked among Asia’s top ten performers.
In the World Championship event, where only 72 swimmers completed the race out of 76 participants, both Indian and Shehan secured the 65th and 66th positions, respectively.
The gold medal in the event was won by Logan Fontaine of France with a time of 51 minutes and 29 seconds, followed by Marc-Antoine Olivier, also from France, with the silver medal in 51 minutes and 29.60 seconds, and Domenico Acerenza of Italy with the bronze in 51 minutes and 30 seconds.
Shehan attributed his success partly to his training at the Azura Florida Aquatic in Miami, USA, under a World Aquatic Scholarship, which he is currently pursuing.
He expressed gratitude to his alma mater, Nalanda College, and its alumni associations in the USA and Sri Lanka, as well as his coaches Gefari Dulapandan, Nishantha Kumarapperuma, and SLASU officials, including General Secretary Mahinda Liyanage, for their support.
In another event, Sri Lanka’s diving record holder, Dulanjan Fernando, participated in the 3m Springboard diving event but didn’t perform as expected.
“Unfortunately, I did not perform well. I ended up in 68th place out of 78 participants on the 3m board. I wasn’t used to the new diving boards they had for the competition. I arrived just two days before the competition and had no time to get used to the boards,” Fernando said.
Sri Lanka’s four-member swimming team, comprising Akalanka Peiris, Kyle Abeysinghe, Ganga Seneviratne, and Hiruki de Silva, will depart for the World Aquatic Championship on February 9.
Sajeewa Jayakody