After a dominant year on the competitive Para Surfing circuit in 2022, TMR sponsored athlete Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams was determined to continue his positive results and progress his surfing with an ambitious 2023 calendar including two global tours as well as the 2023 ISA World Championships.

As part of the push for para surfing to be included by the Olympic Committee in the 2032 Summer Paralympics, US based AmpSurf coordinated the inaugural Para Surf League (PSL) of six events taking place across four continents with the final event held at Huntington Beach, California. Competing in the kneeling division, Llywelyn opened his tally for the year with a 1st place finish at the South African Open held at Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town. Llywelyn then suffered some misfortune at the Costa Rica event leading to a 2nd place finish in the Tour’s second stop. From there Llywelyn never looked back winning the next three European events in Spain, France, and at his home Welsh Nationals to take a commanding lead in the overall tour rankings. At the last PSL Tour event of the year, the US Nationals, Llywelyn also came out victorious meaning a comprehensive victory in the Para Surf League global rankings.

Alongside a successful PSL campaign, Llywelyn also competed on the Association of Adaptive Surfing Professionals (AASP) World Tour which took place across three events in Hawaii, Costa Rica, and USA. After winning the first event at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, Llywelyn then came up against an in-form, legend of the sport in Australian Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart. Mono won both the Costa Rica Pro of Adaptive Surfing, and the US Open edging out Llywelyn in both to secure overall 1st place in the World Tour rankings with Llywelyn placing in a close second. Alongside the AASP Hawaii event Llywelyn was also able to take the victory in the Hale’iwa Open.

As well as two overlapping global tours to manage, Llywelyn also had his eyes firmly set on two standalone events that are marked on the calendar from the outset of the season. 2023’s European Para Surfing Championships were held in July in the stunning Valdoviño, Galicia. Competing against a strong field of athletes, including the talented Spanish surfer Ibon Oregui, Llywelyn took the win to claim back-to-back European titles. Rounding off the calendar year is the largest and most challenging event – the ISA World Championships this year held at Huntington Beach, California. Llywelyn was the holder of the title after triumphing in 2022 and was looking to make it two this year. Being a champion with a target on his back and having been in close competition all year with brilliant surfers in Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart and Ibon Oreguie to name just a couple, Llywelyn knew this would be no easy task. Pumping waves greeted competitors on all six days of competition providing the ideal setting for surfers across all categories to showcase their talents. Llywelyn dominated his kneel division from the very first round and despite a final stacked with talent came through in first place to become 2023 Para Surf World Champion.

To read more on Llywelyn’s win at the 2023 ISA Para Surfing World Championships please visit our dedicated article here.

To train for his incredible contest performance in 2023 Llywelyn also travelled extensively seeking out some of the best waves in the world across Indonesia including Bali, the Mentawai Islands and Lombok. The chance to surf consistently in powerful, high-performance waves has driven Llywelyn’s surfing to new levels as he looks to consistently raise the bar for para surfing and inspire others to get in the water.