Tonya Paulsson

Tonya Helene Paulsson (; born 28 August 2003) is a Swedish and Taiwanese artistic gymnast. She currently represents Chinese Taipei in international competition and previously represented Sweden until 2024. She is the 2019 and 2020 Swedish national champion, and she represented Sweden at the 2018 Youth Olympics, where she was part of the Mixed NOC team who won bronze in the mixed multi-discipline team competition. Representing Chinese Taipei, she is the 2025 World University Games all-around bronze medalist and balance beam silver medalist. She is currently competing for the California Golden Bears in NCAA gymnastics.

Early life Paulsson was born in Malmö in 2003. Her mother is originally from Taiwan. Paulsson began gymnastics at the age of eight in 2010, after her gymnastics coach neighbor noticed her flexibility and agility on the local playground.

Gymnastics career 2016 Paulsson competed at the Unni & Haralds Trophy in Oslo where she finished fourth in the all-around but won gold on uneven bars. The following month Paulsson competed at the Nordic Championships where she was limited to only competing on the uneven bars due to a knee injury. Despite the injury she helped Sweden finish first in the junior division. She next competed at the Swedish National Championships. She once again only competed on uneven bars but managed to finish first amongst the juniors.

2017 Paulsson competed at a team selection competition for the 2017 Junior Nordic Championships where she placed first in the all-around ahead of Jessica Castles and she also recorded the highest scores on vault and uneven bars. At the Junior Nordic Championships Paulsson helped Sweden finish in third place. Individually she finished sixteenth in the all-around but won gold on uneven bars. In June she competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge where she helped Sweden finish ninth.

In late June Paulsson competed at the Swedish National Championships where she won silver in the all-around behind Ida Staafgård, silver on vault behind Castles, gold on uneven bars, bronze on balance beam behind Staafgård and Castles, and fourth on floor exercise. In November Paulsson competed at the Swedish Cup where she finished first amongst the juniors. During event finals she finished second on vault, first on uneven bars, third on balance beam, and fifth on floor exercise. She ended the season competing at the Top Gym Tournament where she finished tenth in the team competition, seventeenth in the all-around, thirteenth on vault, sixth on uneven bars.

2018 Paulsson competed at the Youth Olympic Qualifier where she finished in twelfth place and qualified Sweden for a spot at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. She next competed at the Nordic Championships where she helped Sweden finish second behind Norway. Individually she won silver in the all-around behind Mari Kanter of Norway, gold on uneven bars, and bronze on floor exercise. She finished sixth on balance beam. She next competed at the Swedish National Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on uneven bars, on balance beam, and on floor exercise. Paulsson competed at the European Championships but failed to qualify for any event finals. Paulsson was selected to represent Sweden at the 2018 Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires. While there she qualified for the all-around and uneven bars finals. During the all-around final she placed seventh. During the uneven bars final she once again placed seventh.

2019 Paulsson turned senior in 2019. She competed at the Swedish National Championships where she won gold in all-around and silver on uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg. She next competed at the Heerenveen Friendly where she finished seventeenth in the all-around. She ended the season competing at the Mälar Cup where she finished second behind Alva Eriksson in the all-around and on floor exercise. Additionally she tied for second with Eriksson on uneven bars behind Iida Haapala. She finished first on balance beam.

2020 In October Paulsson competed at the Swedish National Championships where she was able to retain her national title from the previous year. Additionally she won gold on balance beam and floor exercise and won silver on uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg.

2021 Paulsson competed at the European Championships where she qualified to the all-around final; she placed 14th. In September Paulsson was selected to compete at the World Championships alongside Nathalie Westlund and Jennifer Williams.

2024 Paulsson contemplated quitting at the beginning of the year, but she decided to continue competing and began to pursue a switch in country to represent Taiwan.

In May, Paulsson competed at the European Championships. Due to recovering from a knee injury, she only competed on the uneven bars.

Paulsson competed at the World Cup in Szombathely, Hungary in October. There she won silver on the uneven bars as well as gold on the balance beam and floor. She said that she was proud of her floor performance as that was her main focus for he competition.

In November, Paulsson announced that she planned to switch her country representation from Sweden to Taiwan, her mother's home country. She said that she had lost trust in the leadership of Sweden's national team. Her performance in the National Intercollegiate Games from 27 April to 1 May 2025 qualified Paulsson for a position on Chinese Taipei's national gymnastics roster.

Collegiate gymnastics career 2025–2026 In her first season of NCAA gymnastics, Paulsson was placed on the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association Regular Season All-America team, earning first-team honors on uneven bars and second-team honors in the all-around. She won the ACC Newcomer of the Year award. At the 2026 ACC Championships, Paulsson won the all-around title, becoming the first freshman to do so.

Regular season ranking Season All-around Vault Uneven bars Balance beam Floor exercise 2026 15th 153rd 5th 91st 35th

Competitive history Representing Sweden +Competitive history of Tonya Paulsson at the junior levelYearEvent 2016 Unni & Haralds Trophy 4 Nordic Championships National Championships 2017 Nordic Team Selections Nordic Championships 16 FIT Team Challenge 9 Swedish Championships 4 Swedish Cup 5 Top Gym Tournament 10 17 13 6 2018 Youth Olympic Qualifier 12 Nordic Championships 6 Swedish Championships Youth Olympic Games 7 7

+Competitive history of Tonya Paulsson at the senior levelYearEvent 2019 National Championships Heerenveen Friendly 17 Mälar Cup 2020 National Championships 2021 European Championships 14 Osijek Challenge Cup 7 5 FIT Challenge 7 31 World Championships 35 2022 European Championships 26 World Championships 18 2023 European Championships 10 14 2024 European Championships 8 Szombathely Challenge Cup

Representing Chinese Taipei +Competitive history of Tonya Paulsson at the senior levelYearEvent 2025 Asian Championships 4 4 5 8 6 World University Games 6 4