One Surfer, Epic Waves, and a Shot at Olympic Gold
Mexico's lone Olympic surfer, Alan Cleland, trains in Tahiti's epic waves for Paris 2024. Facing off against surf legends in a unique competition format, Cleland aims to become Mexico's first Olympic surfing medalist. Will he conquer Tahiti and claim glory?
The national surfing team, Alan George Cleland Quiñones, completed his first official training sessions in the imposing waves of Teahupo'o, Tahiti, headquarters of the discipline for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Champion of the El Salvador 2023 World Surfing Games, the one born in Colima is part of the 48 athletes who will fight for medals in the waters of French Polynesia, previously holding training days from July 21 to 26 with exclusive use of the place.
The 24 participants that make up the men's group are divided into eight heats of three members where each exponent will have the opportunity to surf twice; The Mexican is located in group 6 along with the Spanish Andy Criere and the American John Florence.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) detailed that the competition format is based on the winners of Round 1 advancing to Round 3 and those in second and third position moving on to an Eliminatory Round 2.
Starting in Round 3, the playoffs will be one-on-one with the winners advancing, while second place is eliminated through the quarterfinals, semifinals, and bronze and gold medal competitions.
Mexican surfer Alan Cleland tackles a giant wave in Tahiti, training for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Credit: CONADE
Alan Cleland went down in the history of national sports by becoming the first Mexican to compete in the Olympic Games in the discipline of surfing, after he experienced his debut in Tokyo 2020.
