Yupun Abeykoon wins men’s 100m bronze medal at Commonwealth Games

Friday, 5 August 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Yupun Abeykoon

South Asia’s fastest sprinter Yupun Abeykoon on Wednesday won the bronze medal in the men’s 100 meters final event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

In the final race Yupun Abeykoon finished in 10.14 seconds and won the bronze medal.

Yupun Abeykoon is the first Sri Lankan ever to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the men’s 100 meters.

The gold medal was won by Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala who finished the race in 10.02 seconds and the silver medal was won by South Africa’s Akani Simbine. His recorded time was 10.13 seconds.

Previously, in the third preliminary round of the 100m event, Yupun finished the race in 10.20 seconds and qualified for the final round by taking the fourth place. Having become the first Sri Lankan in the history of the Commonwealth Games to qualify for the finals of the 100m men’s event, Yupun has also managed to raise the medal tally for Sri Lanka.

In a Facebook post following his medal-winning heroics, Abeykoon said: “Have no words to explain the feeling that I have right now.”

“I did it! I made myself proud and I made everyone who has been there for me proud! Thank you very much to all of you for being there through every moment of this race.”

“This is just the start of more big things to come in the future. I’m going to keep working hard,”

he said.