Silver Surfer

Smyth, who has been on fire for the championships, earning seven out of the ten highest wave scores, narrowly lost out on a gold, which went to Aussie Mark "Mono" Stweart, with a heat total of 11.13 against Smyth's 10.66.

Two South Africans had made it to the semi-finals, with JP Veaudry falling just short of a berth with Smyth in the finals, while third standup team-mate Bruce Campbell made it to Round 2. Dries Millard made it into the semi-finals in the prone division but could not find a way into the finals.

Presented by Challenged Athletes Foundation, Hurley, Stance and the City of San Diego, the Adaptive Champs demonstrated the international profile of this ISA World Championship, with Gold Medalists from four continents greeted by a crowd of thousands. Adaptive surfers from 18 countries cheered as Bruno Hansen (DEN) in Prone, Jesse Billauer (USA) in Assist, Stewart (AUS) in Standup and Fellipe Lima (BRA) in Upright took gold for their countries.

Fellipe Lima, who made history as the first athlete to receive a Gold Medal, said: “I couldn’t be happier than I am now. It’s amazing to see this ISA World Championship happen. It has always been my dream, not just to be a World Champion, but also to see the sport grow. This is just the start.”

The Upright Final was the first of the four Finals to take place, with Brazil’s Fellipe Lima scoring a heat total of 12.93 to earn him the title of the first ISA World Adaptive Surfing Champion. Following Lima were three athletes from the USA: Jeff Munson with Silver, Chris Oberle with Bronze and Freddy Carrillo with Copper.

USA’s Jesse Billauer got out to an early lead in the Assist Final that he never lost, earning Gold for the host country. Taking the Silver was fan favorite, 10-year-old Davi Teixeira from Brazil, followed by Juan Martin De Posadas from Uruguay with Bronze and the only female medalist, Darian Haynes from Hawaii with Copper.

Billauer emotionally shared words with ISA President Fernando Aguerre after his heat. After I got injured, competition was not something that I thought about, and now I am the ISA World Champion. It’s amazing to be a part of this and have all of the countries involved.”

Bruno Hansen from Denmark put on an impressive performance en route to taking the Gold Medal in Prone. USA Team Captain, Christiaan Bailey, finished with the Silver Medal, Spain’s Alvaro Bayona with Bronze and USA’s Ryan Baker with Copper.

Hansen explained, “I’ve been training hard for ten years, trying to get my mind in the right place. I lost my way completely and Surfing brought me back to where I am.”

The Stand Final wrapped up the event in dramatic fashion as Stewart narrowly took the win against Smyth. Rounding out the heat were Brazil’s Alcino “Pirata” Neto with Bronze and Hawaii’s Mike Coots with Copper.

ISA President Fernando Aguerre spoke after the Closing Ceremony. “This is only the start of something much bigger and wider reaching that we will see grow and develop in the years to come.”

For a full list of results, visit: http://isaworlds.com/adaptive/en/results/

Next, the ISA will head up the coast to Oceanside, California for the 2015 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship taking place from October 11 to 18: http://isaworlds.com/juniors/