Medina wins world surfing games, in line for Olympics spot

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico: Three time world champion Gabriel Medina won surfing’s final Olympic qualifying event in Puerto Rico on Sunday, giving him a likely spot in an expanded Brazilian team that will go for gold in the perfect tubes of Teahupo’o in Tahiti in six months time.

Brazil won both the men’s and women’s team events at the International Surfing Association’s world surfing games on the Caribbean island, giving them one extra berth for each gender for the Paris 2024 Games, at the discretion of the National Olympic Committee. Countries are usually restricted to just two spots each for men and women. “I didn’t know if my spot was going to come, but I just tried to give my best,” Medina said after finishing the event undefeated in eight straight heats. “(If) I don’t go, someone else is going to go and that’s it, we are a team. I think everyone was in that spirit, so that helps a lot.”

Medina, 30, is one of the best ever in the powerful and sometimes terrifying barrels of the Olympic venue Teahupo’o, reaching the finals of the world tour event there six times and winning it twice. His likely qualification is a big boost for the Brazilian men’s surfing team, which won the sport’s first gold medal through Italo Ferreira at the Tokyo 2020 Games, but which is facing doubts over the participation of both other qualifiers. —Reuters