Before a crowd estimated in the thousands, the inaugural International Surfing Association (ISA) World Adaptive Surfing Championship, presented by Challenged Athletes Foundation and the City of San Diego, culminated Sept. 27 at La Jolla Shores in grand fashion, ending with recognitions for the first champions.
The newly crowned gold medalists from the five-day competition are Denmark’s Bruno Hansen in the prone class, American Jesse Billauer in assist, Mark (Mono) Stewart, of Australia, in the stand class and Brazil’s Fellipe Lima in upright. They are among 69 surfers from around the world that competed. Lima, who made history as the first athlete to receive a gold medal, said, “I couldn’t be happier than I am now. It’s amazing to see this ISA world championship happen. It has always been my dream not just to be a world champion but also to see the sport grow. This is just the start.”
ISA President Fernando Aguerre spoke following the closing ceremony.
“This is an ISA world championship,” he said, “that will be talked about for years to come. Adaptive surfing history has been made in La Jolla. I would like to congratulate the four athletes that received gold medals but also all 69 competitors who took part in this historic competition. All of the athletes will return home as ambassadors of adaptive surfing. This is only the start of something much bigger and wider-reaching that we will see grow and develop in the years to come.”
Adaptive surfing’s world championship competition is designed to serve as the eminent platform for physically challenged surfers to display their talents in competition. The organizing committee behind Tokyo’s 2020 summer Olympics plan has agreed to consider adaptive surfing as a competition.
The La Jolla-headquartered ISA, founded in 1964, is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the world governing authority for surfing, stand-up paddle racing and surfing, bodysurfing, wakesurfing and all other wave-riding activities on any type of waves and on flat water using wave-riding equipment,
– ISAWORLDS.COM