This article was first published on Wavescape

Noluthando Makalima and Tracy McKay claimed silver medals in their first appearance at the world championships, completed at the weekend despite global cancellations of many events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Makalima, a Khayelitsha surfer with cerebral palsy, typified the type of grit this group is known for when she won her medal in the Women’s Prone 2 division during her first trip overseas. Prone 2 comprises surfers who require assistance on and off their surfboard in a prone position.

She was joined by Durbanite McKay, who won her medal in the Women’s Prone 1 (for surfers who catch waves without help). McKay was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2003 that left her with a walking impairment that worsens over time. 

Multiple medal winner Antony Smyth in action at the Para Surfing World Champs. (Photo: ISA / Jimenez)

A bronze medal went to Cape Town’s Antony Smyth, the defending gold medalist and a former team captain who has another gold under his belt (2016) and two silver medals (2015 and 2017) at the event that has been renamed from the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Adaptive Surfing Championships. 

The change, with amendments to how disabilities are categorised, is aimed at acceptance in the Paralympics, which has been unsuccessful. Surfing – as well as karate, sport climbing, skateboarding, baseball and softball – will be part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but not the Paralympics, which take place two weeks after at the same venues. The Paralympic committee does not accept new sports.

Silver medallist in Women’s Prone 2 Noluthando Makalima surfs her way to a medal. (Photo: Sean Evans)

(Read more about adaptive surfing here: The Changing Face of Adaptive Surfing;  Enabling the Abled and Stoked on Salt.)

Smyth surfed in the Men’s Stand 1 category, which comprises surfers who ride a wave in a standing position with an upper limb amputation’ or congenital’ or impairment equivalent. Smyth has a Brachial Plexus nerve injury to his right arm after a car accident when he was five.

Jean Pierre Veaudry, who surfs with a prosthetic leg below the knee after a 2009 hit-and-run accident resulted in amputation, also won a bronze medal in Men’s Stand 2, which the ISA categorises as “a below the knee amputation, or congenital, or impairment equivalent, short stature, or leg length difference”.

South Africa did not claim any gold medals. However, many will claim those won by former citizen Bruno Hansen, who now hails from Denmark. He continued an unprecedented streak when he won his fifth consecutive gold medal in the unassisted Men’s Prone 1. He has won his division at every world championship since its inception in 2015 (there was no championship in 2019). Bruno was paralysed after his spine was snapped in a car hijacking incident in Cape Town in 1998.

Visually impaired surfer Sabelo Ngema surfs La Jolla shores. (Photo: ISA / Jimenez)

The South African team was led by the current SA champion in the Men’s Prone 1, Daniel Nel, who was knocked out in the semi-finals of his division, earning a credible seventh place. The other two surfers in the SA team were visually impaired athletes, Jared Sacks and Sabelo Ngema, who did not make the final.

Led by a pair of Visually Impaired Gold Medals, Team Spain rose to the top of Para Surfing to earn their first team gold medal at the event. Team USA, previous champion in 2018, earned silver, with Team Brazil bronze and Hawaii copper. South Africa took sixth after fifth-placed France.

A week of heavy downpours and a traditionally ardent sense of team camaraderie coupled with dogged displays of perseverance characterised the event which is held annually at La Jolla near San Diego.

In a statement, ISA President Fernando Aguerre reiterated his aim to get Para Surfing into the Paralympic Games after a record-breaking 131 athletes took part “from varying backgrounds, religions, races and social classes united to celebrate a sport that has changed all of the competitors’ lives for the better”.

“What we witnessed this week is a testament to the fact that the sport of Para Surfing is on the rise around the globe. We had more competitors, a higher level of surfing, professional classification processes and an expert judging panel, all steps that we hope will one day take Para Surfing to the Paralympic Games,” he said. DM