Five world surf champions were confirmed by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and will be in Lima 2019, competing for the gold at the Pan American Games and seeking their qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Among them is the Peruvian Benoit ‘Piccolo’ Clemente, Ambassador Lima 2019 and world Longboard champion 2013.
In ISA’s official list is the Argentinian Santiago Muñiz, gold medal at the World Surfing Games 2018, also the Puerto Rican Tia Blanco, two-times gold medal winner at the ISA World Surfing Games.
The four times gold winner from SUP races, Candice Appleby, will also compete in Lima, , along with the two times consecutive winner of the gold in SUP Surfing, the Brazilian Luiz Diniz.
A total of 88 surfers will be participating in the competition to be held at the mythical beach Punta Rocas, where the Peruvian Felipe Pomar, was the world champion in 1965.
The athletes qualified to the Pan American Games through a process defined by the ISA and the Pan American Surf Association (PASA) which included a combination of tournaments, the Pan American held last year, the Tour of the Association of Paddlesurf Professionals and the ALAS Tour.
THE PERUVIAN TEAM
The qualification (published in detail at www.isasurf.org) includes 10 surfers who will represent the Peruvian colors from July 29 and August 4. Lucca Mesinas, Alonso Correa, Daniela Rosas and Melanie Giunta will take part in the surf competition.
Piccolo Clemente and Maria Fernanda Reyes will compete in longboard, while Tamil Martino, Vania Torres, Itzel Delgado and Giannisa Vecco will be competing in SUP (Stand Up Paddle). The first two will participate in SUP Surf and the last two will compete in SUP Race.
WORKS HAVE STARTED
After the qualifier official list was known, the organization of Lima 2019 confirmed the start of the remodeling works and the implementation of the competition venue located in the district of Punta Negra. Surf will have the High Performance Center, to boost this discipline even further, as a great legacy.
Surfing will make its debut as an event of the Olympic circuit and is one of the 39 sports to be held at the Pan American Games which opening will be on July 26 and will continue until August 11.