Sri Lankan model Elina Gunawardena, who works professionally as Elina G, walked the runway at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Los Angeles on Sunday, in what two Sri Lankan newsrooms report as the first such appearance by a Sri Lankan model.
NewsFirst reported that she “made history by becoming the first Sri Lankan model” to appear at the show, describing it as a significant milestone for the country’s modelling industry.
The 2026 edition was held on 18 October and featured Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Irina Shayk and Ashley Graham, with Colombo Gazette adding Anok Yai, Paloma Elsesser, Barbara Palvin and Alex Consani to the line-up, and reporting an appearance by Kylie Jenner. Live performances came from Tate McRae, Megan Thee Stallion, Megan Moroney and the group KATSEYE.
The two filings do not make the same claim
This is worth recording, because the headline claim is the whole story.
NewsFirst states it flatly: she “has made history by becoming the first Sri Lankan model to walk the runway.”
Colombo Gazette hedges it twice: she “has reportedly become the first Sri Lankan to walk the runway,” and later refers to “her reported achievement.”
Neither outlet cites a source for the claim — not Victoria’s Secret, not a modelling federation, not an archive of past shows. On the underlying fact of her appearance the two agree completely; on its status as a national first, one newsroom asserts and the other declines to. This desk reports it as both of them together support it: she appeared, and it is reported to be the first.
Not reported
Neither Sri Lankan filing gives her age, her home town, where she is based, how long she has modelled, which agency represents her, or how she was cast. Neither describes what she wore, quotes her, or reports any statement from Victoria’s Secret confirming the appearance or the “first” claim. Figures on these points circulate in international and aggregator coverage; this desk has not cited them because it could not verify them against a verified newsroom’s own filing.
Sources: NewsFirst, Colombo Gazette.
