Elite Para Surfers Deliver Exceptional Performances at ISA World Championship
By ISA Staff
Competitors were greeted with pumping four-to-six-foot surf for day 2 of the 2025 ISA World Para Surfing Championship (WPSC). The north side of the Oceanside pier delivered a perfect peak in glassy conditions, allowing the world’s best para surfers to showcase their full repertoire and deliver multiple excellent scores. Round 1 was completed for six classifications across men’s and women’s divisions.
The men’s Kneel division kicked off the day with huge performances from many returning medalists, including Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams (WAL), who is the three-time defending champion. Williams was the first surfer to break into the excellent range today with an 8.40, but not the last, as both Dariel Melendez Davila (CRC) and Dijackson Santos (BRA) posted huge scores. It was Melendez who earned the best of the division with a 17.50 heat total. The Costa Rican drove through two critical open face carves before an end section hit to earn his high score of a 9.33.
“The score came out and I was really impressed about it,” Melendez said. “So happy to get a good score. Right now, we’ve got some glassy conditions, four-to-six-foot, pretty solid. I hope everyone enjoys the comp and pura vida.”
High scores continued into men’s Prone 2, where defending champion Freddy Marimon (COL) posted a near-perfect 9.90 on his very first wave of the event. The now 20-year-old, who first claimed gold at the age of 13, was extremely stoked to be able to unleash his power on a long left that offered him section after section all the way to the shore.
“That wave was unexpected, it came out suddenly, but we’re prepared from the start for anything,” Marimon said. “We came to give everything, and with that wave, I felt a strong connection. When Mimo told me, ‘Hey, get ready for the wave,’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do what I have to do.’ And it was the connection, the flow, giving me back the section, and down below Andrés was saying, ‘Come on, let’s do it,’ and well, it was epic.”
Marimon’s 16.50 heat total topped the division’s leaderboard, with two-time World Champion Jesse Billauer (USA), Cliff Gralton (AUS), and Tomoki Fujiwara (JPN) also posting solid heat totals.
Another defending champion, Pierrot Gagliano (FRA) in men’s Visual Impairment (VI) 2, returned straight to the top of the leaderboard ahead of two-time World Champion Roy Calderon (CRC) and Jack Jackson (AUS).
Melissa Reid (ENG) and Alelí Medina (PUR) Track Toward Another Title Showdown
One of the highest numbers of the day for the women went to Melissa Reid (ENG) in women’s VI 2. In challenging low-tide conditions, the three-time World Champion found an open face and drove down the line before dropping a powerful layback for a 7.17.
“It was quite nice to get something with a little bit of shape to it,” Reid said. “Super, super hard out there, especially positioning as a VI athlete. Like, normally you’ve got a little bit of leeway, but if your takeoff’s wrong, you’re just going to be making out with the sand, which I did a few times. But yeah, I was super happy to actually get a wave under my feet.”
Reid won her three consecutive titles prior to the rise of Alelí Medina (PUR) in 2022, finishing runner-up to the Puerto Rican in both 2022 and 2023. In 2025, the pair appear headed toward another tight battle for gold, with Medina posting the higher heat total over Reid’s top single wave score.
Para Surfing’s Most Successful Athletes, Victoria Feige (CAN) and Bruno Hansen (DEN), Return
Since Bruno Hansen (DEN) last competed, the six-time World Champion’s classification, Prone 1, has seen a takeover by the Australian duo of Joel Taylor (AUS) and Kai Colless (AUS), the respective 2023 and 2024 gold medalists. Hansen’s form remained solid in his first ISA event since 2021, but Colless and Taylor were able to hold firm atop the leaderboard, with the Danish champion in third.
Returning to ISA competition after a year away, the winningest woman in para surfing, Victoria Feige (CAN), re-established herself at the top. Utilizing both sides of the peak, the five-time World Champion posted scores of 7.40 and 6.83 for a 14.23 two-wave total. The 40-year-old continues to dedicate her life to surfing, sharing her knowledge through Jamie O’Brien’s surf school in Hawaii while also receiving coaching from former WSL World Title runner-up Megan Abubo. Feige was happy to start strong against her largest field of competitors yet.
“It was a little dicey, some of those late drops I did not make and it’s always fun having a little ride under the waves, but I finally pulled out a few decent turns and got a decent score together,” Feige said. “Everyone’s charging and there’s more girls in the Kneel division than ever and I love to see it. No one really understands that you can have a disability and you can still rip in the water like the competitors here. In every division you can see it.”
