Last 16 Athletes Decided in the Paris Olympic Surfing
US surfer Caroline Marks, 2024. Photo: X/ @ISAsurfing
July 29, 2024 Hour: 9:49 am
Surfers from Brazil, Japan, France, and the U.S. will face off in the round of 16.
Surfing powerhouses the United States, Brazil, Japan and host France have kept a full roaster in the last 16 of the men’s and women’s competitions in the Paris Olympic Games as the first elimination was made on Sunday.
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Sixteen surfers bowed out of the competition following round 2 but the surfers from Brazil, Japan and France have all emerged victorious in their respective heat.
Among them is Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Kanoa Igarashi of Japan, who improved from a dismal round 1 show to beat Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti.
“I woke up today and saw that I had one of the toughest draws of the whole contest. It got my heart racing. I thought ‘I definitely don’t want to lose out here in the second round of the Olympics’,” Igarashi said.
Brazil, Japan and France have joined the United States, who had a strong start throughout the first day of the competition, to keep all the surfers in the event ahead of the round of 16.
Another breakthrough was made for Chinese surfing on Sunday as 15-year-old Yang Siqi won her heat to reach the last 16. But she would have a daunting task in the next round against Caroline Marks, a major gold medal contender with the highest score of 17.93 points in round 1. But Yang has already won admiration with her brave performance, including from Igarashi.
“She’s been so inspirational for me. She was charging so hard in the free surfs. I feel like, as Asians in surfing, there are not many of us, so whenever we can support each other, we support each other as much as possible. She’s definitely one that I would love to keep cheering for the rest of her career,” Igarashi said.
Autor: teleSUR/ JF
Fuente: Xinhua - EFE
