Sri Lankan elite athlete, Olympian, Tharushi Karunaratne commenced 2025 on a positive note in the USA when she won the third round of the women’s 400 m at the Vanderbilt Indoor Invitational 2025 held in Tennessee USA.

Karunaratne, the 19-year-old prodigiously-talented sprinter representing Tulane University, managed to record a time of 54.51 seconds being placed second out of 52 athletes who participated in this event  

Earlier in this same meet, Tharushi participated in the women’s 1000 m event finishing in 2 minutes 49.04 seconds where she was placed in seventh position overall.

Tharushi Karunaratne, the product of Walala A. Ratnayake MMV left for the USA in late August last year (2024) as she had received a full scholarship at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

She is an undergraduate in Management while pursuing her sports in the NCAA Division I circuit which provides crucial overseas experience for her career on the track.

Karunaratne became an Olympian last year when she qualified for the Paris Olympics in the 800 m, being the youngest member of the Sri Lankan team. 

She won the Asian Junior gold medal in 2022, followed by a gold medal at the senior Asian Championships in the same year.

Last year, she won a gold medal at the Asian Games and qualified for the Paris Olympics through world rankings and her aim is to take part in the next Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 with more perseverance and unwavering resolve.