Teenage surfer Yang secures historic Olympic berth for China

Yang Siqi made a breakthrough for China after securing her Olympic berth at the World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico on Friday.

Yang, 14, topped repechage round 6 with 11.83 points, thus qualifying as one of the 24 women to participate in the Olympic Games. She will be the first Chinese surfer to compete in the Olympic Games since the sport made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics.

"I ranked first in my heat while I didn't anticipate that I have qualified for the Olympic Games," said a thrilled Yang.

"We were about to leave. When the staff asked me to stay, I was not aware that I would earn the Olympic qualification. I was super excited when being informed of that and I felt my hands trembling. I achieved the goal which I had set in 2022," the Chinese teenage surfer added.

Since her first appearance in the WSG in 2022, Yang's surfing and heat strategy has notably improved year-on-year, with her power and precision landing her the highest single wave score of the day for the women, a 7.50.

"I didn't expect that I would qualify for the Olympics before my repechage round 6 action, so all I thought was to relax, do my best and make it to the next round. The waves were especially difficult, the current was strong, so I was tired to just stay down there."

Surfing competition of Paris 2024 will take place over four days in a nine-day window from July 27 at Teahupo'o on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.