Minagi Rupesinghe: Beating the odds

Minagi Rupesinghe now has a total of eight national records to her name, in seven individual events and one relay.

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Minagi Rupesinghe of Killer Whale Aquatics set two new national records while also partnering on another relay record, and was crowned the overall Women's National Champion at the 49th National Long-Course Swimming Championships, which took place at the Sugathadasa Stadium pool from August 6-10.

Her first national record was set on day one of the championships in the women's 400m freestyle event with a time of 4 minutes 34.34 seconds, breaking the previous record of 4.37.30 set by Machico Raheem in 2014.

On day two, Rupesinghe broke another 11-year-old record in the 400m individual medley with a time of 5:14.58, slashing 7 seconds off the previous record of 5.21.77 held by Sri Lankan swimming legend Kimiko Raheem.

Rupesinghe's third national record was in the 4x50 medley relay with fellow Killer Whale teammates, Ramudi Samarakone, Hiruki de Silva and Kaitlyn de Zilva with a time of 2:01.63. She also won gold medals in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events and the 200m backstroke event, securing the overall women's championship title.

At just nineteen years old, Rupesinghe now has a total of eight national records to her name, in seven individual events and one relay.