Yupun Abeykoon went from being a name known only among the athletics communities in Sri Lanka before 2020 to a household name, tagged with the prestigious label “South Asia’s fastest man”. It has been a meteoric rise for the Sri Lankan sprinter based in Italy, and he has the opportunity to cement his legacy even further at the upcoming World Championships as well as Commonwealth Games.
A product of the Pannala National School and St Joseph Vaz College Wennappuwa, Yupun would originally start off his career as a triple jumper. He has even represented Sri Lanka at the triple jump in the South Asian junior athletics championships where he finished 4th. Later, on the advice of his coaches he would specialize in the sprint events, leading him on to the path where he would go sub-10 in 2022.
To continue on his sporting journey he joined the Sri Lanka Army and also represented the team that won a bronze in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the World Military Games held in Munyeong, South Korea. He remains affiliated with the army to this date, holding the position of Staff Sergeant. In 2015, Yupun took what was probably the decisive step in his athletic career where he moved to Italy on a scholarship, aged just 21.
From then on his performances improved year on year with a best time of 10.83 seconds in 2015 being bettered in almost every subsequent year to the point where he would go into 2020 with a personal best of 10.31 seconds in the 100m. However, even though Yupun had been steadily improving in the background and had also been a part of the South Asian gold medal winning relay team, 2020 was the year where his name first hit the limelight when he took the title “South Asia’s fastest man” for the very first time, running 10.16 seconds in Dessau, Germany. This broke the previous National Record held by Himasha Eshan and from this point onwards there was no looking back!
2021 continued this upwards trajectory, starting the year off with a 6.59 second performance in the 60m before running a 10.09 second time which was unfortunately not a new record due to excessive wind limits. He would then also become the first Sri Lankan to run in the Diamond League, equalling his national record and placing 4th in Florence. On merits of these performances Yupun became the first Sri Lankan since 1996 to achieve direct qualification into the Men’s 100m at the Olympics where he would bow out in the heats. He would also be Sri Lanka’s flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Putting the relative disappointment of the Olympics behind him he would later compete at the Diamond League finals in Zurich. However, it has been 2022 that has been the magnum opus of Yupun’s career so far and he would start the year off with a bang, smashing an Asian Record in the 150m with a time of 15.16 seconds. This was followed by a 10.04 second performance in the 100m which was once again unfortunately ruled out from record contention due to wind as well as the South Asian record in the 200m, eclipsing Vinoj Suranjaya with a time of 20.37 seconds.
It was at Dessau once again where Yupun showed off his appetite for potentially going under 10 seconds, finally smashing his own national record with an excellent time of 10.06 seconds before once again running 10.08 seconds at the prestigious Golden Spike Meet in Ostrava. Both of these performances were run into strong headwinds and showed that Yupun was indeed on pace for a sub-10 performance if the conditions were there.
That date finally came at the the Resisprint International in La Chaux-de-Fonds as Yupun became the first South Asian and just the 4th Asian athlete in history to dip under 10 seconds with an astonishing time of 9.96 seconds. This was undoubtedly one of the most historic moments in the history of Sri Lankan sports and it was the ultimate culmination of Yupun’s effort leading him into rarefied air which few athletes had ever experienced.
This leads us to the World Championships where Yupun will be taking part for the very first time and he enters the event as the 15th fastest athlete in the event this year (and the fastest Asian). He will be going up against tough competition with a strong American contingent waiting in line as well as the likes of Ferdinand Omanyala and Akani Simbine. Yupun has publicly stated his personal goal of reaching the semifinals. A couple of weeks later, he will also be taking part in the Commonwealth Games where he will have genuine hopes of medalling or at the very least reaching the finals.
Despite, his preparation being somewhat compromised due to administrative issues and delayed transit, we at MoraSpirit sincerely hope that Yupun will reach bigger and greater heights at the World Championships and that he will carry on his good form into the Commonwealth Games and bring glory to Sri Lanka.
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