Sri Lanka’s men’s 4x100 metres relay team set a new national record at the 2026 Asian Relay Championships in China on Sunday, clocking 38.63 seconds to break a mark that had stood since 2018.
The record-breaking quartet — Deneth Weeraratne, Chamod Yodasinghe, Chalith Piyumal and Meron Wijesinghe — eclipsed the previous national record of 39.08 seconds set by the Sri Lankan team at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Ada Derana reported. The 0.45-second improvement is the most significant gain in the event for Sri Lanka in nearly a decade.
Sri Lanka also won bronze in the men’s 4x400 metres event at the same championships, giving the country a second podium finish of the meet.
The result extends a productive year for Sri Lankan athletics, which has been led on the international circuit by world No. 2 javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga. Tharanga most recently returned home after winning three gold medals and a silver at the Asian Athletics Championships and Diamond League events earlier in June.
The Asian Relay Championships, held biennially under the Asian Athletics Association, brings together leading national teams from across the continent and is a key qualifying event for sprint relay squads ahead of the World Championships and the Asian Games. Sri Lanka has historically struggled in the men’s 4x100m discipline, where the country has rarely featured in continental medal contention.
