Olympic Surfing star Kanoa on Paris 2024 desires
Freshly ranked among the world’s top five, the Tokyo 2020 silver medalist is now ready to begin the hunt for his next dream venture: Olympic gold in Paris 2024. However, first he wants to get a quota for the 2022 ISA World Games of Surfing in Huntington Beach.
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Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist in surfing Kanoa Igarashi has already made 2022 an unforgettable year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24-year-old set himself the goal of finishing in the top five on the World Surf League Championship Tour Men’s Rankings.
It was ambitious, but the dream hunter got the job done by making this number the background of his phone to keep himself hungry. While Igarashi may not have had the kind of end to the season he could have hoped for after losing in the first round of the WSL final to Olympic champion Italo Ferreira, the Japanese surfer still had reason to rejoice.
He achieved his goal of becoming world No. 5. I pretty much built my days around it, Igarashi mused in an exclusive interview in California on the eve of the ISA World Surf Games, which are streamed free of charge on the Olympic Channel.
“It became a reality a couple of weeks ago. I was able to take part in my first world title tournament and have the honor to say that I have a chance to become a world champion. It was an honor to just feel that energy and know that I’m on the right track.”
Kanoa Igarashi, Eyes firmly set on gold at Paris 2024
Having marked one goal, the Olympic medalist now turns to his next set of ambitions. The first of these will be a trip to Paris 2024 to renew the silver he won on home waves in Tokyo. The hopes and ambitions of Paris? The simple and easy answer is to get a gold medal, Igarashi said of the upcoming Olympic 2024. I was so close to winning in Tokyo that it fired me up more than ever.
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Riding the familiar waters of Tsurigasaki Beach, where his father surfed before emigrating to the United States, Ferrier’s house favorite won gold in a thrilling final. The result initially left Igarashi at odds with his medal, but over time he realized its value. And now the star surfer wants more:
“I had mixed feelings in Tokyo. I didn’t know how to get the silver medal, Igarashi said. There were just these ups and downs of something that I couldn’t control. I think for me, I still have that fire in me. He’s still so fresh. And, obviously, we are already talking about qualifying for Paris 2024. My goal is to win gold and fix what I couldn’t achieve in Tokyo.”
Keeping up with the Igarashis
Also on the agenda of Kanoa’s dream is supporting his younger brother Keanu Igarashi in his nascent career as a surfer. The 19-year-old is currently in contention for the Championship Tour (CT) with a long-term goal of competing in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. And the older Igarashi is already looking forward to helping him fulfill his potential:
“I would just like to see how my brother gets closer to his goal of getting into CT and being part of this conversation. And prepare him for participation in the 2028 Olympics. I want to see him develop and this is probably my biggest goal before Paris 2024 and hopefully I can inspire my brother too. So I just go and do it.”
As for what the older Igarashi thinks about the possibility of the two fighting together in the city they grew up in, the Olympic medalist said it was his vision that he already shared:
“I think this could be a really cool opportunity. I told him this the other day. I said, Hey, let’s move towards this goal. Obviously, I have a lot of things to do, but I give as much energy as possible to my brother in order to achieve his goals.”
Talking about his brother and what he can achieve, Igarashi soon contemplates what he wants to achieve in the course of his career. When it comes to inspiration, the surfer admits to drawing inspiration from several other athletes, including Japanese phenom Naomi Osaka and the recently retired Roger Federer.
Following the announcement of the tennis legend’s departure from the sport, Igarashi expressed his growing sense of admiration for the 41-year-old and that he hopes to make the same impact one day. I mean, he’s such an inspiration; what he did for the sport. He must be having a good day with his family and, you know, seeing everyone go crazy with the news.
If you look at all these people who have a legacy in sports, it’s not just about what they do on the court, in the water or on the field. It’s about what they do on the street and how they give back to the community, how they give back to their family. That’s where you, I think, become unique, and that’s where you’re great.
It would be my great dream, Igarashi added, hoping to get a similar legacy. He could take a small step towards that goal at the ISA World Surf Games in California this week, the Olympic Paris qualifier with an Olympic spot offer in each of the men’s and women’s events.
Why wind surfer Katya Coelho’s challenge is to build muscle weight
23-year-old IQFOil windsurfer Katya Coelho qualified for the Asian Games; gaining muscle mass is necessary to manage a large hydrofoil under a boat.
Katya Coelho is struggling with a unique physical phenomenon – if she is too light, she cannot move quickly in her sport. The 23-year-old is constantly trying to build muscle and get heavier. You are not pulled by a motor, you have to move in strong winds and waves, which requires a lot of weight from you, says a windsurfer from India, participating in the Asian Games, Olympic sailing category. Under the boat there is a huge fin that needs to be balanced. If you don’t have adequate body weight, it’s difficult.
While in most indoor Olympic sports, athletes struggle to keep their weight down to keep matches fair, outdoors is nothing like windsurfing, where competitors are assisted but mostly struggle with gusts of wind and changing waves. I go to the gym twice a day trying to build muscle. It is very difficult for women, says the athlete from Goa. That’s why her out-of-water training – most of it, pun intended – includes mixed martial arts and kickboxing.
Katya’s father Donald runs a restaurant at the Anjuna flea market, where he first saw a European windsurfer speeding along in bright red IQFOil sailing gear. The equipment is standard, which means that everyone competes on the same equipment – a board with a lower fin and an analogue of a sail.
A former national champion around 2004, Donald decided to train his children, Dane and Katya, in the RS 1 class, which has now replaced IQFOil in the Olympics and Asian Games. It took me 10 days to get comfortable with this IQFOil and get on the board after buying equipment from a friend, Donald says of falling in a hundred flips. It’s like chess on the water: to overcome buoys, winds and rebellious waves, controlling the ring arrow.
Katya won her first international medal at the Thailand Windsurfing Cup in November 2022 but feels she lacks the experience that can only be gained in fleets of 10-12 people like Europeans or Chinese.
One outfit – the whole fancy red and white assemblage of water racing stuff – can cost 10-12 lakhs. Spending is constantly draining Donald’s pockets. But I decided to invest everything I have and profits to get them to participate in the Olympics, he says, like a real ambitious father. Now there is help from ENGN and an organization that exclusively supports female athletes with equipment, nutrition and training costs. One coaching session can cost 300 euros per hour.
It’s the most fun surf event ever, with a foilboard that appears to float above the water and racing fleets in eye-catching reds, making it the most modern modern Olympic sport in terms of the invention of chronology. But sailing itself is on the fringes of Indian sports, IQFOil is a tiny red dot on the far horizon, so it’s always an all-powerful struggle financially. It’s a physically demanding sport. But the first moment I started when I was 8 years old on a boat with a sail was magical.
The costs in Muggle money are completely non-magical, although this does not bother Katya. Since the Youth Olympic Games she went to, her focus has been on hours of body conditioning, though she will spend some of that time in the water. Thus, these months before the Asian Games are dedicated to building lean body mass.
“Men build muscle faster than women, she begins to explain. That’s because guys have more testosterone, which helps build muscle. Because women naturally have less testosterone, they build muscle at a slower rate.”
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