Cooray breaks Rosa’s 40-year-old record to qualify for Rio Olympics Marathon

by Reemus Fernando - From The Island

London based Sri Lankan athlete Anuradha Indrajith Cooray has qualified for the Rio Olympics Marathon when he broke the long standing Sri Lanka national marathon record at the London Marathon on Sunday, statistician of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka confirmed.

37-year old Cooray has shattered legendary marathoner S.L.B. Rosa’s 40 year old record when he clocked two hours 13 minutes and 47 seconds to finish 14th in the London Marathon. Saman Kumara, the AASL statistician said that Cooray has also qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics Marathon with this achievement on Sunday.

No Sri Lanka athlete has come closer to S.L.B. Rosa’s record (2:14.31 secs) since he achieved the mark at the Fukuoka Marathon in 1975.

Cooray who first took part in an Olympics Marathon in 2004 has been living in London for a better part of the last decade and also represented the country at the London Olympics Marathon in 2012.