Sophia Medina rattles her father’s nerves with last-minute scorcher
While Etxabarri kept her cool even after her board fin broke, Brazil’s Sophia Medina was quick to admit that her second-round heat was such a nerve-wracking affair, she was still trying to catch her breath long after getting out of the water.
That is to say nothing of her parents.
“I always make my parents so nervous like my dad at home, he’s doing like a heart exam because he stays so nervous,” she told Olympics.com. “Lots of emotions and lots of love for this sport it’s just amazing how it works.”
The 20-year-old faced one of the toughest second-round heats, with Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Tsuzuki Amuro and Peru’s Arena Rodriguez who beat the world No.1 Gabriela Bryan this summer in the lineup.
Medina earned 7.00 for her first wave, but struggled to catch another and was soon overtaken by both Rodriguez and Germany’s Rachel Presti. On the brink of being sent to the repechage round, her second opportunity came shortly before the buzzer.
“It’s a crazy one because it’s a place where the wave doesn’t come. It’s out of the peak, so it was very weird to come off a wave like that,” Medina said. “This wave came, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is it. That’s my chance. That’s my shot!’ … I don’t take for granted that wave coming. It was a huge opportunity for me.”
Medina finished the heat in second place, while Tsuzuki was relegated to the repechage.
Costa Rica’s Leilani McGonagle, Ecuador’s Dominic Barona, Germany’s Camilla Kemp, and Israel’s Anat Lelior were among the other Olympians who will have to battle their way out of the repechage after finishing among the bottom two surfers in their second-round heats.
In the men’s competition, all three Australians made it through to the third round in first place, while Paris 2024 Olympians Tim Elter of Germany and Inaba Reo of Japan met different fates as Elter went through in first place while Inaba dropped to the repechage round.
The World Surfing Games competition continues on Tuesday, 9 September. You can follow all the action from the event on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com.