Yupun Abeykoon is someone who hit the top in track and field athletics without much heralding and fanfare. He came almost from the blues and what is most known about him is that he does the 100 metres, trains in Italy, failed in the Tokyo Olympics last year and won the bronze in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games this year.
What is little known about Abeykoon who will turn 28 on December 31 is that he first started his academic and athletics career at the Pannala National School and at the age of 16 crossed over to St. Joseph Vaz College in Wennappuwa.
He will not hesitate to say that he was inspired by the Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe and influenced to a large extent by the fastest man Usain Bolt.
He holds the title of being the fastest man in South Asia in the 100 and 200 metres and is attached to the Electronic and Mechanical Engineering Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army and represents Army Sports Club.
On July 3 this year he became the first South Asian to break the 10-second barrier in the men’s 100 meters at an international competition in Switzerland with a time of 9.96 seconds.
Abeykoon is also the first and only Sri Lankan to have competed at the Diamond League and in April 2022, he set a new Asian record in the men’s 150m by clocking 15.16 seconds.
In May this year Abeykoon won a 200 metres event in Italy in a time of 20.37 seconds and clocked 10.06 seconds in the 100 metres at a meet in Germany.
Both timings make him the fastest man in Sri Lanka.
In an interview with the Sunday Observer, one of the hottest men on the track was as cool as a cucumber having probably lost five of the best years that would have taken his career to a greater extent.
A simple unassuming personality, Abeykoon is a man with a head above his shoulders, quite a contrast to some thick headed Sri Lankan sporting celebrities. A role model and gentleman to his fingertips.
Excerpts of the interview:
Q: Describe yourself in one word?
Determined
Q: What is your most marked characteristic?
Trying till I get through to my targets and never giving up
Q: If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Absolutely nothing
Q: What is the most important thing in your life?
Calm mindset
Q: Who has influenced you the most?
World champion Usain Bolt
Q: Are you fashionable?
Yes, I like fashion. Because when you’re an athlete the impression you give another person is the first how they see you
Q: If you had access to a time machine what would you change?
The past five years I missed
Q: What motivates you in your life?
My targets and goals
Q: If you could choose any career right now, what would it be?
Right now I love what I am doing. So being an athlete is what I would choose
Q: What forms of music do you listen to?
Anything that motivates me
Q: What’s the best thing you would like to hear from someone?
You deserve it
Q. What made you choose sports?
There’s no specific reason for it
Q. Thus far what was your most unforgettable sporting incident?
Competing with my childhood heroes
Q. What’s your best school sporting achievement?
Setting the under-21 Sri Lankan national schools record in the 100m
Q: What is your idea of happiness?
Achieving goals
Q: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Wasting time
Q: What is your biggest disappointment?
When people waste their in-born talent
Q: What is the important lesson life has taught you?
If you put your mind into anything nothing can stop you from doing it