A year and a half ago, 16-year-old Tiana Sumanasekera took to the stage for her final routine at the Olympic trials, ready to cap off a breakout 2024 season.
She began her four-pass floor routine with a full twisting double layout, followed by a double back layout. The crowd cheered as Sumanasekera performed her Sri Lankan-inspired choreography before launching a back 1.5 to front full combination.
After finishing off the routine with a double pike, completing what the now-UCLA freshman described as the best routine of her life, Sumanasekera was overcome with emotion as the crowd delivered a standing ovation.
“Seeing the crowd on their feet – it was a sold-out arena – was just like tears in your eyes and chills,” said Sumanasekera’s former World Champions Centre coach Cécile Canqueteau-Landi. “Tiana teared up, and it is very emotional to see that, starting from little, they finally achieve one of the biggest dreams – and to be a part of it, it is an honor.”
Ultimately, Sumanasekera fell short of making the shortlist for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and was named a nontravelling alternate after her eighth place finish at the trials.
However, as one of the youngest gymnasts competing for a spot in Paris, this was not Sumanasekera’s last opportunity to represent the United States in Olympic competition.
The Olympic trials were the culmination of a lifelong commitment to the sport, one that demanded Sumanasekera move from California to Texas to train at WCC under Canqueteau-Landi and her husband, Laurent Landi, while undergoing homeschooling from a young age to accommodate a rigorous training routine.
The commitment paid off, and Sumanasekera began elite competition at 10 years old in 2018, only five years after starting gymnastics. In 2021, at the American Classic in Indianapolis, she won her first national competition in junior elite, taking home gold on floor.
Sumanasekera marked her experience the next year at the 2022 City of Jesolo Trophy as a moment where she realized her potential to go the distance in gymnastics.
“I did not have any expectations going into that meet,” Sumanasekera said. “I was sick with the flu, so I was like, ‘Just do your gymnastics,’ and it ended up being a huge meet and showing for me.”
The Pleasanton, California, local came away with five gold medals, earning the junior team gold and sweeping the all-around, vault, bars and floor. This performance in her last year before moving up to senior elite competition foreshadowed her coming success at the next level.
Gymnasts can compete as junior elites until 18 years of age, but many will move on to senior elite earlier, a step up that requires the gymnast to be at least 16 years old.
The jump to senior elite accompanied Sumanasekera’s big move to WCC, where she joined seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and current UCLA senior Jordan Chiles, alongside a litany of other top gymnasts from across the country.
[Related: How the World Champions Centre shaped UCLA gymnasts Chiles, Sumanasekera, Eichman]
“Simone and Jordan, being the oldest, took the little one (Sumanasekera) under their wings and helped them also feel more free to be themselves,” Canqueteau-Landi said. “We had different athletes, different personalities, different gymnastics, but they all got to shine their own way.”
Sumanasekera, nicknamed “Princess Tiana” by Canqueteau-Landi, brought focus and support for her teammates without drama, fitting in alongside her veteran teammates.
Sumanasekera has represented the U.S. twice at the Senior Pan American Championships, helping bring home first-place team finishes in both instances. But her pride in representing the U.S. as a gymnast goes beyond competitive achievement.
Believed to be the first gymnast of Sri Lankan descent to represent the U.S. in international competition, Sumanasekera has carried her heritage with her every step of the way.
“I was choreographing my floor routine since level seven,” Sumanasekera said. “I really wanted to incorporate the Sri Lankan dance and heritage when I started junior elite.”
This season with the Bruins, Sumanasekera’s collegiate floor routine stays true to her South Asian roots.
Assistant coach BJ Das is responsible for the choreography behind UCLA’s famous “floor parties.” Like Sumanasekera, Das choreographed many of her floor routines during her own gymnastics career.
“I had always looked up to BJ and her choreography, and so that was something we could not wait to get into the gym and do,” Sumanasekera said. “It came so naturally for both of us, and she was throwing out some ideas, and I was picking them up super quickly.”
Mastering this Bollywood-inspired floor routine also came naturally to Sumanasekera, who has not scored below 9.825 on the apparatus this season and notched a career-high 9.925 against Washington on Jan. 30.
Now, already accustomed to competing in Los Angeles, Sumanasekera is setting her sights on another shot at Olympic competition in 2028.
The biggest complication, however, lies in the differing skillsets required for elite and collegiate competition, with the former relying on maximizing difficulty and individual performances, while the latter focuses on team success that emphasizes clean technique and precision to achieve the perfect 10.
Sumanasekera’s teammate Chiles is no stranger to this journey, having sat out the 2024 NCAA season to prepare for the Olympics. Coach Janelle McDonald will be well-positioned to employ some of the same coaching strategies that propelled Chiles to success as she prepares Sumanasekera.
“It is really about maintaining our elite skills, making sure she has them in her pocket so that we can pull them on when it is time to build those elite routines back up,” McDonald said. “It is exciting for us to get to support her in that and to help her reach her dreams.”
Sumanasekera said the UCLA coaching staff is highly supportive of her goals, helping her to work on her elite skills when time allows amid the already rigorous NCAA practice schedule.
Four years after that first Olympic trials experience, Sumanasekera may have her shot once more – but she is not taking any moment along the way for granted. Whether sticking a landing at the trials or on dismount from beam in Pauley Pavilion, when the tears come, you likely have witnessed something special from the freshman.
“It will be a full-circle moment, and it is my dream,” Sumanasekera said. “I’m working hard towards it. But, anything can happen. This is such an unpredictable sport. Life is unpredictable. So, I’m just going to work hard and see where the journey takes me.”
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