| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Rankoth Pedige Waruna Lakshan Dayaratne [2] |
| Born | 14 May 1988 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | Javelin throw |
| Club | Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club |
| Coached by | Pradeep Nishantha |
Rankoth Pedige Waruna Lakshan Dayaratne (born 14 May 1988) is a Sri Lankan athlete specialising in the javelin throw. [3] He represented his country at the 2017 World Championships without qualifying for the final.
His personal best in the event is 82.19 meters, set in Diyagama in 2017. [4]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Sri Lanka | |||||
| 2011 | Asian Championships | Kobe, Japan | 10th | Javelin throw | 68.78 m |
| 2015 | Asian Championships | Wuhan, China | 4th | Javelin throw | 76.75 m |
| Military World Games | Mungyeong, South Korea | 8th | Javelin throw | 71.79 m | |
| 2017 | Asian Championships | Bhubaneswar, India | 8th | Javelin throw | 76.78 m |
| World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 31st (q) | Javelin throw | 73.16 m | |
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about 2.5 m in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon.
A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Andreas Thorkildsen is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously be European, World and Olympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in 2005, 2007 and 2011. His personal best of 91.59 m, set in 2006, is the Norwegian record.
Tero Kristian Pitkämäki is a Finnish retired track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World Champion, having won gold in 2007. His personal best throw of 91.53 m, set in 2005, ranks him eleventh on the overall list.
Cy C. Young Jr. was an American athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw. He is the only American male to earn Olympic gold in the event.
Uwe Hohn is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is the only athlete to throw a javelin 100 metres or more, with his world record of 104.80 m. A new javelin design was implemented in 1986 and the records had to be restarted, thus Hohn's mark became an "eternal world record". He coached Indian track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra, who won the gold in the men's javelin throw at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.
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Braian Ezequiel Toledo was an Argentine javelin thrower who improved the World Youth Best in boys' javelin throw by more than six metres.
Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
Jakub Vadlejch is a Czech track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is a three-time Olympian for the Czech Republic, having competed in 2012, 2016 and 2020, winning a silver medal in 2020. He also has represented his country six times at the World Championships in Athletics, winning the bronze medal in 2022 and 2023 and silver medal in 2017, and six times a competitor at the European Athletics Championships, winning the silver medal in 2022 and the gold medal in 2024. He also won the 2016 IAAF Diamond League title.
Hamish Peacock is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He has competed at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Summer Olympics.
Thomas Röhler is a German track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is the 2016 Olympic Champion and 2018 European Champion. His personal best of 93.90 m for the event ranks him third on the overall list.
Johannes Vetter is a German athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. His personal best of 97.76 m is the German record, and ranks him second on the overall list behind Jan Železný. Vetter currently trains under Boris Obergföll and is a member of LG Offenburg's track and field squad. He was previously with SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Dresdner SC.
Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His biggest achievement is winning gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, becoming the first Asian athlete in javelin throw to do so at an Olympic event. Chopra can be called as one of the greatest in javelin throwing and one of the greatest Indian athletes because he has won gold medal in every major tournament. He is also the first Asian to win the javelin gold in the World Athletics Championships after his win in 2023.
Anderson Peters is a Grenadian javelin thrower and the 2019 and 2022 world champion in the event. In 2024, he won the bronze medal in the men's javelin throw at the Paris Olympic Games. He is a multiple time CARIFTA Games champion at the discipline and in 2016 earned a bronze medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, setting a new Grenadian national record and OECS record at the same time.
Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani javelin thrower. He is the reigning Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion. He is also the current silver medalist in the World Athletics Championship. He set an Olympic record with a throw of 92.97 metres (305.0 ft) at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Waruna may refer to:
The men's javelin throw event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 4 and 7 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 35 athletes competed; the exact number depended on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 32 qualifying through distance or ranking.
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