COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, December 30 (ePRESS) – In a performance that will be spoken about for many years, Rushalee Dissanayake of Musaeus College Colombo produced one of the greatest junior displays in Sri Lankan swimming history at the HNB National and Junior National Short Course Swimming Championship 2025.
The 14-year-old swept to the Junior National title with a stunning haul of nine gold medals and an unprecedented 11 Junior National Short Course records at the five-day meet organised by the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union and held at the Isipathana College Swimming Pool Complex this month.
Dissanayake finished as the most decorated swimmer of the entire championship, across both junior and senior categories, topping the individual points table with 35 points. Her achievements marked the powerful end of an extraordinary junior career built on consistency, endurance and calm control under pressure.
All five individual gold medals she contested came with new Junior National Short Course records. She dominated the freestyle events, winning the 1500m (18:50.29), 800m (9:49.90), 400m (4:48.20) and 200m (2:12.18), while also claiming gold in the 50m Butterfly with a time of 30.61 seconds.
Although competition rules allow swimmers to enter only five individual events, Dissanayake still managed to set two more individual record times. Swimming the opening legs of relay races, she clocked 28.27 seconds for the first 50m Freestyle and 1:00.90 for the first 100m Freestyle, underlining her versatility and exceptional race speed.
Her impact went beyond individual races. Anchoring all four relay teams for Musaeus College, she guided her teammates to four Junior National Short Course relay records. The quartet recorded 4:25.06 in the 400m Freestyle Relay, 1:58.67 in the 200m Freestyle Relay, 4:58.39 in the 400m Medley Relay and 2:11.85 in the 200m Medley Relay. The record-setting Musaeus relay team also included Senuki De Silva, Naduli Gamage and Sithuli Warnakulasuriya.
Away from short course swimming, Dissanayake’s dominance is equally clear. She currently holds seven Junior National Long Course records and eight Sri Lanka Schools records across the Under-14 and Under-16 age groups, highlighting her strength in both pool formats.
On the international level, she represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Aquatic Championship in 2025 in Ahmedabad, where she broke her own Junior National Long Course record in the 1500m Freestyle and finished seventh in Asia — a rare achievement for a swimmer of her age.
Training at Rainbow Aquatic under legendary Sri Lankan Olympian Julian Bolling, with guidance from assistant coach Penuka Wijemanna, Dissanayake enjoyed a remarkable 2025 season. She also won the Under-15 National Age Group Championship, the Sri Lanka Schools Under-16 Aquatic Championship, the Junior National Long Course Championship, the Under-15 Pentathlon title and the 86th Mount Lavinia Two-Mile Sea Swim junior crown.
Having entered the national swimming squad at just 12 years of age in 2023, she had already made headlines by breaking a senior national short course record at 13 in 2024. Now set to move into senior competition in 2026, Rushalee Dissanayake leaves the junior ranks after one of the most powerful and complete junior careers Sri Lankan swimming has ever seen.
Rushalee Anchors Historic Relay Quadruple
Rushalee seals junior short course crown with record-breaking sweep
