Lekamge in action at today's Paris 2024

Dilhani Lekamge the leading Javelin thrower of Sri Lanka marked her sign in Paris 2024 although she was not advanced to the Finals. 

 

Her Qualification group (Group A) consisted of elite Javelin throwers like Mackenzie Little from Australia, Victoria Hudson from Austria and Maggie Malone-Hardin from USA with world rankings 2, 4 and 5 respectively.  Indian athlete who won the Asian Gold medal in 2023, Annu Rani was also in the same group competing with Lekamge where she won the silver medal. 

 

The qualification standard was 62.00 which is higher than her personal best of 61.57 and seasonal best of 57.94. In her first attempt, she threw a 53.66 distance which is far behind the qualification benchmark. There were magnificent throws of 64.22 by South African athlete Dyk Ja Van and 60.38 by Colombia ML Murillo putting Dilhani in a challenging position for a spot in the Final. Lekamge’s throw was not eligible  on the second attempt which dropped her in the leaderboard to the 16th position. With a 53.24 on the third attempt, lower than her first throw, Dilhani ended her Olympic debut with promising hope for Sri Lanka as she lost her position in the final. 

 

With her wholehearted efforts to make our motherland proud, Dilhani Lekamge showed her tremendous commitment to her sport which made her secure 16th position in her qualification group.

 

Written by Vinuki Bandara | MoraSpirit