Rumesh Tharanga

Rumesh hails from Kalutara and was initially interested in cricket. As a teenager, he bowled at speeds of up to 134 km/h while representing St. Peter's College, Colombo. His father, who was a discus and shot-put thrower, introduced him to athletics. He initially took up the discus throw before switching to the javelin throw at St. Peter's College in 2017.^[1]

Rumesh made his international debut at the 2019 Asian Youth Championships in Hong Kong, where he finished sixth with a throw of 61.62 m.^[2] Later at the 2022 World U20 Championships in Cali, he placed seventh with a 69.98 m throw.^[3]

He began to be coached in Australia under Mike and Kelsey Barber at the Queensland Institute of Sport. He won the 2024 Asian Throwing Championships in Mokpo, with a personal best of 85.45 m.^[4]

In March 2025, he threw 85.41 m to win the Perth Track Classic.^[4] He placed fourth at the 2025 Asian Championships in Gumi, with a throw of 83.37 m.^[5] In July, he won the bronze medal at the Neeraj Chopra Classic in Bengaluru with a throw of 84.34 m.^[6] In August, he became the Sri Lankan National champion in with a throw of 82.40 m in Diyagama.^[7] That month, he set a new Sri Lankan national record with a throw of 86.50 m whilst competing at the 2025 Indian Open, a WACT Bronze meet in Bhubaneswar, to break the previous best mark set by Sumeda Ranasinghe.^[8] He also retained his title at the 2025 Asian Throwing Championships in Mokpo, with a throw of 82.05 m.^[9] At the 2025 World Championships, he finished 12th in the qualification round with a throw of 82.80 m and became the first-ever Sri Lankan javelin thrower to qualify for the finals, where he placed seventh with a throw of 84.38 m.^[10]

On 14 February 2026, he threw 83.07 m to retain his title at the Perth Track Classic.^[11] The following month, he set a new national record with a throw of 89.37 m at the Champions Track & Field Meet in Diyagama.^[12] On 24 April, he set a new meeting record of 89.28 m at the Kip Keino Classic.^[13] On 31 May, he threw 85.97 m to finish runner-up at the 2026 Meeting de Rabat.^[14] On 4 June, he won with a throw of 92.62 m at the 2026 Golden Gala. It was the furthest throw anywhere in the world since the 2024 Olympics, and moved him to eighth on the world all-time list.^[15] This performance sets a new meet record, national record, and world-leading mark for the season to date, as well as a personal best.^[16][17] On 16 June, he threw 86.57 m to win at the Golden Spike Ostrava, and on 19 June threw 88.68 m to win at the 2026 Doha Diamond League.^[18][19] On 31 July, he won the gold medal at the 2026 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 89.75 m.^[20] Following his gold medal victory at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Tharanga was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on 5 August 2026 by Air Force Commander Air Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe.^[21] Competing at the 2026 Athletissima on 21 August, he won with his throw of 88.14 m to beat Neeraj Chopra by nine centimetres.^[22] On 27 August, he threw 92.07 m to win the 2026 Weltklasse Zürich.^[23] On 5 September, he won the 2026 Memorial Van Damme with a third-attempt throw of 89.04 m, becoming the first Sri Lankan athlete to win a Diamond League final. It was his twelfth victory in thirteen events.^[24][25] On 13 September, he won the inaugural World Ultimate Championship title in Budapest, with a throw of 91.09 m– the first 90 m throw ever achieved in Hungary.^[26] He received a special trophy and a prize money of USD 150,000.^[27]