Team England, Including Silver Winner, Melissa Reid and Copper for Zoe Smith Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

• USA wins unprecedented third Para Surfing Teams World Championship, France take silver, Spain, bronze, Brazil, copper

• Canada’s Victoria Feige becomes winningest woman in Para Surfing history

• 13-year-old Aleli Medina wins first ever Para Surfing medal for Puerto Rico

• Long-awaited second gold medal for Davi Teixeira (BRA), surfing’s youngest World Champion

History was made on the final day of competition at the 2022 Pismo Beach ISA World Para Surfing Championship Hosted by AmpSurf, with thirteen World Champions crowned on a groundbreaking day of action in wild and wooly conditions.

Victoria Feige (CAN) won her fourth gold medal in a row to set herself apart and officially become the greatest of all time in women’s Para Surfing.

“I can’t believe it,” Feige said. “But I have gotten this far because of the help of the adaptive surfing community and how hard the other girls in my field are pushing me. I’m so excited to see where we all go towards the Paralympics.”

Gold medals from Sarah Bettencourt and Liv Stone once again helped deliver defending champions Team USA their unprecedented third gold medal in the all-important Team World Championship. Bettencourt and Stone both won their third World Title in a row.

“I want to dedicate this win to all the other women that showed up at this event,” Stone said. "It’s a record number of women. It’s incredible and I’m stoked to get more and more up and coming women in the sport of adaptive surfing.”

The seventh edition of the event appeared to mark a changing of the guard. A total of seven new world champions were crowned and six of the overall gold medallists are teenagers.

Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams flying the flag and gold for Wales

Of the first-time winners, which today included Casey Proud (HAW), Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams (WAL), Camilo Abdulo (POR), and Rafael Lueders (BRA), Aleli Medina (PUR) was the youngest, at 13-years-old, and also the first to win an ISA Para Surfing medal of any color for her national team.

“I’m super excited,” Medina said. “To bring this gold medal to Puerto Rico, it means everything to me.”

It was the fourth final for Williams, across six years of competing, and this year’s win felt like redemption for the 27-year-old after an interference in the dying minutes of the 2021 Final cost him the gold medal.

“From losing in the last three minutes last year to having it now, it’s overwhelming,” Williams said. “The whole of para surfing is building and next month we find out if we go to the Paralympics. So it’s all changing, and we have new people coming on board. It’s going to be a fun few years I think.”

Five additional surfers added to their growing individual medal counts with Fellipe Kizu Lima (BRA) collecting his fifth, Alcino ‘Pirata’ Neto (BRA) his fourth, and Davi Teixeira (BRA) his second, while 2021 gold medalists Elias Figue Diel(BRA) and Roy Calderon (CRC) both repeated their performances to win back-to-back World Titles.

(BRA) Davi Teixeira Jersson Barboza  Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

It’s been a long journey for Teixeira, surfing’s youngest World Champion, to back up his 2016 win, but the 17-year-old had been setting the pace throughout the event and he carried that momentum with him into the Final to finally secure his second gold medal.

“I feel so happy, so grateful,” Teixeira said. “But the win is the most important thing? No, the most important thing for me is the people here and this energy.”

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said:

“What an amazing week, what an amazing event! Congratulations to all the medalists in all the divisions and all of the people back home who make this incredible event possible for the athletes.

“Seeing new generations of athletes fills my heart with happiness. Now let’s wait for the news. More than ever I believe Para Surfing belongs in the Paralympics.”

Team USA Photo: ISA / Jersson Barboza

RESULTS

Team Rankings
Gold - USA (10,890)
Silver - France (10,695)
Bronze - Spain (10,448)
Copper - Brazil (10,440)

Women’s Prone 1
Gold - Sarah Bettencourt (USA)
Silver - Katherine Beattie (USA)
Bronze - Tracy McKay (RSA)
Copper - Sam Bloom (AUS)

Men’s Vision Impairment 1
Gold - Elias Figue Diel (BRA)
Silver - Thomas Da Silva (FRA)
Bronze - Kirk Watson (AUS)
Copper - Ben Neumann (GER)

Men’s Prone 2
Gold - Davi Teixeira (BRA)
Silver - Matthew Vanderhoogth (CRC)
Bronze - Tomoki Fujihara (JPN)
Copper - Claudio Morales (CHI)

Women’s Vision Impairment 2
Gold - Aleli Medina (PUR)
Silver - Melissa Reid (ENG)
Bronze - Ling Pai (CAN)
Copper - Alison Eakin (USA)

Men’s Vision Impairment 2
Gold - Roy Calderon (CRC)
Silver - Jack Jackson (AUS)
Bronze - Miguel Flavio (BRA)
Copper - Aaron Paulk (HAW)

Women's Kneel
Gold - Victoria Feige (CAN)
Silver - Noemi Alvarez (CHI)
Bronze - Emmanuelle Blanchet (FRA)
Copper - Audrey Pascual (ESP)

Women's Stand 1
Gold - Liv Stone (USA)
Silver - Cristiana Fernandes (BRA)
Bronze - Catalina Castro (CHI)
Copper - Faith Lennox (USA)

Open Sit
Gold - Fellipe Kizu Lima (BRA)
Silver - Guillame Colin (FRA)
Bronze - Juan Camancho (CRC)
Copper - Doug Hendrikz (RSA)

Men's Prone 1
Gold - Casey Proud (HAW)
Silver - Antonion Mueller (GER)
Bronze - Marcal da Costa (BRA)
Copper - Christiaan ‘Otter’ Bailey (USA)

Men's Kneel
Gold - Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams (WAL)
Silver - Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart (AUS)
Bronze - Altair Olivares (CHI)
Copper - Ibon Oregui (ESP)

Men's Stand 1
Gold - Camilo Abdula (POR)
Silver - Roberto Pino (BRA)
Bronze - John Wheele (AUS)
Copper - Kentaro Kondo (JPN)

Men's Stand 2
Gold - Rafael Lueders (BRA)
Silver - Jean-Paul Veaudry (RSA)
Bronze - Phillipe Naud (FRA)
Copper - Kenjiro Ito (JPN)

Men's Stand 3
Gold - Alcino ‘Pirata’ Neto (BRA)
Silver - Dariel Melendez (CRC)
Bronze - Eric Dargent (FRA)
Copper - Naomichi Katsukura (JPN)

Philippe Naud, Team France Photo: ISA / Jersson Barboza

A full day of clean and small conditions proved to be both exciting and challenging as day four of the 2022 Pismo Beach ISA World Para Surfing Championships Hosted by AmpSurf delivered the drama.

With defending champion Jose Martinez (USA) already out of the mix, the Men’s Prone 2 Quarterfinals promised to be interesting. The near elimination in Heat 1 of 2016 gold medalist Davi Teixeira (BRA) was highly unexpected after his performances earlier in the week and in Heat 3 two other former gold medalists, Freddy Marimon (COL) and Jesse Billauer (USA), were eliminated despite a near buzzer beater from Billauer.

Advancing ahead of them are long-time gold medal hopefuls Tomoki Fujihara(JPN), Claudio Morales (CHI) and Matthew Vanderhoogth (CRC), along with newer competitors Lee Ferrier (AUS) and Eric Lazar (HAW)

Aleli Medina, Team Puerto Rico. Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

Defending champions Elias Figue Diel (BRA) and Felipe Kizu Lima (BRA) held firm atop their divisions, while Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart (AUS) found redemption in Men’s Kneel Round 2, jumping all the way to the top of the leaderboard after a shocking Round 1 heat on day one left him at the bottom of the rankings.

Jimena Ruíz (CRC) was one of two Costa Ricans who won the first Para Surfing gold medals for their nation in 2021. The 16-year-old is in a prime position to repeat that performance in 2022, topping the Women’s Stand 2 leaderboard with a 17.93 heat total. That number beats the record set yesterday by Emma Dieters (AUS) for the new highest heat total in women’s ISA Para Surfing history.

“With that score I’ve made it to the Final and that makes me happy,” Ruiz said. “I’ll be scoring points for my team and will hopefully win the gold medal.”

38-year-old Philippe Naud (FRA) is no stranger to the podium, winning both silver and bronze medals in previous events. This year he sits atop the rankings heading into the Final after scoring the highest single wave of the event, a near-perfect 9.90 for a massive two-turn combo on his backhand.

Team England, Including Melissa Reid (ENG) one of two women in contention to win their fourth gold medals this week Photo: ISA / Sean Evans

“I’ve been surfing for 20 years and coming to this contest for 5 years now,” Naud said. “I’m so happy to see that the level is growing higher and higher every year.”

Defending Women’s Prone 1 champion Sarah Bettencourt (USA) also couldn’t be more happy to see new faces excelling.

“It’s really exciting,” Bettencourt said. “There’s so many new athletes coming out here representing their nation and taking it to the next level and that's what this is about.”

“I’m really looking forward to what the future holds, especially as we go into the Paralympics. We all want it, but I really want it. And if someone beats me, even someone from USA, if they take my spot then more power to them because I want the best of the best in the Paralympics when para surfing makes it, because it will make it.”

In her first time competing internationally, 13-year-old Aleli Medina (PUR) has shot to the top of the Women’s Vision Impairment 2 leaderboard and will challenge three-time gold medalist Melissa Reid (ENG) in the Final, along with former silver medalist Ling Pai (CAN) and Alison Eakin (USA).

“I’ve been surfing for almost 10 years,” Medina said. “I started surfing when I was 3-years-old, my dad showed me. I was in Jobos, my local break, taking waves from the shore. It was really fun. It’s a really good experience, I love it so much.”

Competition will resume at Pismo Beach Pier with Women’s Stand 1, Round 2 at 7am, Friday, December 9 EST.