Cleland Quiñonez's Olympic Dream Shattered

Mexican surfer Alan Cleland Quiñonez said goodbye to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, after falling in round 3 with a score of 15.17, against Joan Duru of France who advanced to the quarterfinals, in the competitions that took place this Monday in Teahupo'o, Tahiti.

The native of Boca de Pascuales, Colima had a close duel with the Frenchman and managed to add 8.17 points in his first best wave of the round, while he collected 7.00 in the second. This score was the second best of the competition, up to that moment, since, in the first series, the most outstanding score was for Kauli Vaast of France, who totaled 15.10 units.

For his part, Joan Duru had better luck in the waves and achieved two outstanding performances that gave him 9.10 and 9.03 points.

The Mexican, world champion of El Salvador 2023, waited for several minutes for a wave to arrive that would allow him to overtake the Frenchman, but this did not happen, and the competition time ended, leaving him out of the quarterfinals.

At the end of the test, the 22-year-old from Colima received recognition from his French rival for his performance, in what was his Olympic debut and a historic competition for Mexico, being the first national to achieve his qualification for a summer event in this discipline.