The Portuguese athlete Pedro Palma won gold at the Pantín Classic, in Pantín, Galicia, Spain, on August 23, in the men's Prone 2 parasurfing category. The victory was achieved in the final moments, when Pedro scored 9.17 points on his last wave, overtaking his opponents and securing first place. For a few seconds, even the athlete himself was not sure he had won, waiting for the official confirmation of the heat.
This victory represents the fulfillment of a goal Pedro Palma had been pursuing for about five years. In 2022, he had finished second in the same competition and, since then, had returned several times without being able to reach the top. The victory in Spain concludes an international sequence of podiums that included a third place in France and a second place in England, being the third consecutive podium for the Portuguese athlete.
Pedro Palma was born with cerebral palsy and started adaptive surfing around 2019. From an early age, his family sought the aquatic environment as a way to stimulate his development, attending pools and beaches. His father even built an amphibious chair to facilitate transporting Pedro across the sand to the water, revealing the architectural barriers many athletes with disabilities face before entering the sea.
In addition to the gold in Pantín, Pedro Palma had already achieved other significant results in his career, including the title of European vice-champion. His coach, Filipe Costa, a physiotherapist connected to surfing, emphasizes that the work with the athlete begins long before entering the water, highlighting that "coming to surf is the easiest thing in life."
