◇ Last day of the Surfing World Games (24th, Huntington Beach, California, USA)
Men’s Tokyo Olympic silver medalistKanoa Igarashi(Kinoshita Group) became the first in the world. Marked a high score of 15.96 points in the final. He won first place from the first round to the seventh round, and won his first major title in his hometown of Huntington Beach, where he was born and raised. When he went up to the beach where the Hinomaru was waiting, he tapped the board over and over again and exploded with joy, saying, “I’m being interviewed on behalf of my country in front of my best friends, where I grew up. I am proud to share what I have achieved with so many special people.”
Japan also won the team, which competes for the total points of the three men’s athletes, and won one additional participation slot at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Playing the role of an ace, “That was my goal this week. Whether it was Shun (Murakami), Keanu (Kamiyama) or the women, it was important for someone to secure a spot.”
Igarashi was also strong in the final. Three minutes after the start of the 35-minute match, he was the first among the four players to get on the wave and land an air on the backside to score 6.17 points. Two minutes later, he also landed an air on the backside and continued the turn to the water’s edge for 7.83 points. He took the initiative early on. After 15 minutes, I jumped up from a large and small turn on the front side and made one rotation. He picked up the momentum with his hopping and turned in the end section to score 8.13, the highest score of the heat.
Knowing the venue better than anyone else, he said, “The most difficult thing is that the conditions are different every day. There are times when there is no power, and there are times when there is too much power.” During the tournament, he generously gave advice to other members of the Japanese national team on how to select waves and what to wait for. In the final, those friends jumped on the beach with the Hinomaru in hand and continued to cheer. Prior to the tournament, he emphasized the importance of “teams are special. Winning together with the team.” With the encouragement of his friends, he finally stood at the top, where he had missed second place in 2018 and 2021.
◇ Paris Olympic surfing quota 24 men and women each. The cap for each country/region is two, with one additional slot given to the men’s and women’s winning teams of the 2022 and 2024 World Surfing Games. The right to participate is determined by the top 10 men and eight women on the 2023 Championship Tour, as well as the top finishers from each continental qualifier.