Deshabandu Kameradin Susanthika Jayasinghe is a Sri Lankan retired sprinter, who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. She won the Olympic silver medal for the 200m event in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the second Sri Lankan to win an Olympic medal after Duncan White and the first Asian woman to win an Olympic or World Championship medal in a sprint event. She is also the only Asian athlete to have claimed an Olympic medal in sprint events. She is also the first and only Sri Lankan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships. Her silver medal achievement at the 2000 Sydney Olympics also stood as the only Olympic medal for a South Asian in athletics event for 21 years before Neeraj Chopra's gold medal achievement at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is fondly nicknamed as the Asian Black Mare. She has represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics on three occasions in 1996, 2000 and 2008. She is considered one of the most decorated sprinters in Sri Lanka. However, she is also a deemed as a controversial figure in Sri Lanka.
Justin Alexander Gatlin is a retired American sprinter who competed in the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters. He is the 2004 Olympic Champion in the 100 meters, the 2005 and 2017 World Champion in the 100 meters, the 2005 World Champion in the 200 meters, and the 2019 World Champion in the 4 x 100 meters relay. In addition, Gatlin is the 2003 and 2012 World Indoor Champion in the 60 meters. He is a 5-time Olympic medalist and a 12-time World Championship medalist. At the World Athletics Relays, Gatlin won two gold medals in the 4 x 100 meters relay in 2015 and 2017. Gatlin is also a record 3-time Diamond League Champion in the 100 meters. He won the Diamond League trophy in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The 2006 South Asian Games were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 18 August to 28 August 2006, in the Sugathadasa Stadium with more than 2000 sportspersons competing in the record 20 disciplines of Sports.
Chinthana Geetal Vidanage is a Sri Lankan weightlifter. He won a gold medal in the men's 62 kg category weightlifting; the first weightlifting gold medal for Sri Lanka in the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Australia. In, 2011 Vidanage was banned for four years for violating anti-doping rules.
Sadaf Siddiqui is a Pakistani track and field sprint athlete from Lahore who has competed in international sprint races for Pakistan. Siddiqui represented Pakistan at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing where she competed in 100 meter, placing seventh in her heat without advancing to the second round.
Jani Chathurangani Chandra Silva Hondamuni is a Sri Lankan track and field athlete who competes mainly in sprinting.
This article contains an overview of the year 2009 in athletics.
In 2010 there was no obvious, primary athletics championship, as neither the Summer Olympics nor the World Championships in Athletics occurred in the year. The foremost championships to be held in 2010 included: the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2010 European Athletics Championships, 2010 African Championships in Athletics, and Athletics at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was held from 1–10 December 2019, coincidentally at the same time as the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. The new dates were confirmed at the South Asian Olympic Council Executive Board meeting in Bangkok on 1 March 2019. The Dasarath Stadium hosted the opening ceremony along with the men's football tournament, with the stadium's renovation after the 2015 earthquake completed in under 10 months with an increased capacity of 20,000, along with the closing ceremony on 10 December.
Dimuth Akalanka Peiris also known as Akalanka Peiris is a Sri Lankan swimmer and a national record holder in swimming. Known for his outstanding international performances, he is a Youth Olympian., and a Commonwealth Games finalist. He has represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Games and World Aquatics Championships. Akalanka is ranked among the top 25 swimmers globally, and he continues to make significant contributions to Sri Lankan swimming.
Sri Lanka competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's eighteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, with the exception of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Seven of the nation's previous Olympic appearances were under the name Ceylon.
Abeykoon Mudiyansalage Yupun Priyadarshana, known as Yupun Abeykoon, also referred to as Yupun Priyadarshana, is a Sri Lankan track and field athlete and a national record holder in men's 100m, men's 200m and in men's indoor 60m. On 3 July 2022, he became the first South Asian to break the 10-Second barrier for the men's 100 meters event at the Resisprint International competition, with a timing of 9.96 seconds, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He currently resides in Italy as he went on a scholarship to Italy in 2015. He is also attached to the Electronic and Mechanical Engineering Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army and represents Army Sports Club. He is currently regarded as the fastest Sri Lankan man as well as fastest South Asian man in men's 100m and 200m disciplines.
In 2019 in the sport of athletics, the foremost 100 metres races were held at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. In the men's World Championships final the American Christian Coleman won his first world title with a time of 9.76 seconds. In the women's World Championships final Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won her fourth world 100 m title with a time of 10.71 seconds.
The following lists notable events that took place during the year 2022 in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022. This was Sri Lanka's 17th appearance at the Commonwealth Games.
The men's 100 metres at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as part of the athletics programme, took place at the Alexander Stadium from 2 and 3 August 2022.
Sri Lanka competed at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8, 2023. This was Sri Lanka's 19th appearance at the Asian Games, having competed at every Games since the second edition in 1951.
Issamade Asinga is a Surinamese track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 and 200 meters. His 100m personal best of 9.89 seconds was the world under-20 record and the Surinamese national record, but was later stripped for doping.
