Christine Merrill:

A STARin the making

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from South Korea

There was a time that Sri Lanka dominated in sprint events, mainly in Asia and even at world level occasionally mainly due to some extraordinary performances of Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Tilklakaratne, Sriyantha Dissanayake and Rohan Pradeep Kumara.

With the retirement of Sriyani Kulawansa, there was a doubt whether Sri Lanka could produce a champion hurdler of that calibre in near future. But Sri Lanka could now have fresh hopes with the emergence of Christine Sonali Merrill who competes in women's 400m hurdles event.

She may not have made a big impact on her IAAF World Championship debut in South Korea but her representation here in Daegu is an investment for the future.

She has already proved her class by winning a medal at the 2011 Asian Championships in Kobe, Japan in July. That is a positive sign of what is on store. The 24-year-old lass who is based in the United States is looking forward to the future with hope and confidence.

"It was a great experience to compete at the World Championship. It has taught me good lessons and given that much needed confidence in competing in the big league," Merrill said.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News at the Daegu Stadium here, Merrill said her next aim is to qualify for the Olympics. "My next goal is to compete at the Olympics. True that I could not gain that timing that I expected but definitely I will make every endeavor to make it to the London Olympics," she said with confidence.

"I know I have some more time left to gain qualifying standards to compete in women's 400m hurdles at 2012 Olympics. I will try to improve on my Sri Lanka record and qualify for the Olympics in the meets to come," she added.

Merrill narrowly missed a chance of making it to the semi finals of women's 400m hurdles finishing sixth in the quarter final heats clocking 57.05 seconds. Portugal's Vera Barbosa, who finished just ahead of Merrill at the fifth place with a timing of 56.31 seconds, qualified for the semi finals.

Merrill got off to a good start but failed to capitalize on that early advantage. She was within the top four competitors before the second bend but lacked that super power that was needed for the powerful finish. "I got off to a good start but it was pity that I failed to keep that rhythm for the rest of my race," she said.

She was placed 24 th among 38 woman athletes who came under the starters orders for the five 400m hurdles qualifiers. Racing against some of the world's best runners, UC San Diego graduate was placed sixth, the second fastest time of her career.

In her first full post-collegiate season, the Lankan lass registered her personal best time of 56.83 seconds in Kobe, which set a new Sri Lanka national record.

As a Triton, Merrill was the 2009 NCAA Division II champion in the 400 metre hurdles. The Bakersfield, California native also holds school records in the 400m hurdles (58.04 seconds) and 400 dash (54.76 seconds).

She is a member of the recently formed Movin Shoes Elite Athlete Development Program that provides support to post-collegiate track and field athletes in the San Diego area.

"I want to make my country proud. I know I could do better and I will try to keep improving. I was extremely happy and felt proud when I saw the lion flag after my performance in Japan. That would inspire me to do even better and bring more glory to my country," Merrill said.

It was none other than the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka, President Major General Palitha Fernando who spotted the talents of the emerging Sri Lanka athlete who has been domiciled in the United States.

It was Major General Fernando who persuaded Merrill and her parents for her to run for her native country.

It ultimately paid rich dividends at a time Sri Lanka athletics is staved of stars after the successive retirements of top athletes such as Jayasinghe and Darsha, who have won medals for Sri Lanka at South Asian, Asian and world level during the last couple od decades.

There was a time Sri Lanka won three to four gold medals at Asian Games. At the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Sri Lanka won three gold medals with Darsha two in women's 200m and 400m and Tillakaratne one in men's 400m.

Then at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, Jayasinghe won a gold for Sri Lanka in her pet event. Since then, only notable feat by Sri Lanka at the world level was Jayasinghe's bronze medal at the 2007 Osaka World Championship.

But their retirements have taken that glamour out of Sri Lanka athletics for the time being. But with Merrill coming to limelight, Sri Lanka could well have fresh hopes. Her current training stint in the US has been arranged by the AASL, according to Major General Fernando.

He is keen to extend every possible assistance for the Lankan lass to go places.

"She is highly talented and is capable of making some good contribution to Sri Lanka athletics. We will try to find her better expose at international competitions so that she could improve gradually," he said.

Merrill is roaring with confidence and perhaps, continuous experience in key international meet would put her on the right shape. If she continues her current form, she has a good chance of qualifying to represent Sri Lanka at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

If groomed carefully with much needed experience at key international meets as well as proper training, Merrill could well go even for an Asian Games gold medal in 2014. It is too early to predict anything and unwise to overestimate her.

That too could harm her smooth progress. Nevertheless, Merrill is the best bet for Sri Lanka in women's events at present as she is the only local female rated among the first 50 in the world rankings of their respective events. DAEGU, Friday