Sky Brown continues pursuit of two-sport Olympic dream as she advances to third round at World Surfing Games
Sky Brown wants to compete in two sports, surfing and skateboarding, at the Olympic Games this summer; Brown has advanced to the third round of the World Surfing Games as she looks to qualify for Paris 2024; Brown became GB's youngest medallist with her park skateboarding bronze in Tokyo
Last Updated: 25/02/24 8:44pm
Sky Brown kept alive her hopes of representing GB as a two-sport Olympian this summer after advancing to the third round of the World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico.
The 15-year-old made history at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming Team GB's youngest medallist with her park skateboarding bronze aged just 13, and is looking to qualify for both the surfing and skateboarding competitions at the Paris 2024 Games.
On Sunday she took two steps closer, qualifying for round two after finishing second in her round-one heat behind Australian Tyler Wright, who topped the group with 10.84 points, while the Briton's 6.84 was enough to see her through over Uruguay's Marcela Machado and Latvian Katrina Kruze.
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It was a much nervier second-round finish for Brown, who had the worst combined score of the heat until her final run, which saw her climb from fourth to second with a total score of 8.07, finishing behind France's Johanne Defay, who totalled 12.50 in the heat.
Had Brown failed to secure that second spot there could have been a chance to qualify for the final through the repechages, but she will be happier to have booked a place in the eighth heat of round three, where she will face Spain's Lucia Machado, South Africa's Sarah Baum and China's Siqi Yang.
Brown's best heat score of 8.07 was the 47th-best of all the women on the second day of the World Surfing Games, with the United States' Carissa Moore, who won short board gold on the sport's debut in Tokyo, leading the pack with 16.00.
This event is the final chance for surfers to qualify for this summer's Olympics which, while hosted by France, will see the surfing programme take place in Tahiti, French Polynesia, with the finals scheduled for July 30.
Should Brown, the 2023 world champion in the skateboard park event, also secure one of the eight remaining Olympic qualifying spots for female surfers in Puerto Rico, she could face a July 30 surfing final in Tahiti before a near 10,000-mile journey to Paris, where her skateboarding competition would take place on August 6.
