November 2023 saw TMR sponsored athlete Llywelyn Williams go back-to-back, defending his 2022 ISA Para Surfing World Title by winning this year’s event at Huntington Beach, California to cap off another incredible year. After breaking through with his first World Title at Pismo Beach, California in 2022 Llywelyn was determined to make it two in as many years and surfed brilliantly throughout the contest to hold off tough competition and take the win.

This year’s event was held across five days at Huntington Beach, with the wave gods smiling on the contest and perfect, peeling A-frames greeting competitors each day. There could not have been a better setting for World Titles to be decided across a range of para-surf categories, and contestants made the most of conditions demonstrating why they are the best in the world. While Llywelyn confesses he excels in onshore, difficult conditions similar to those which he surfs regularly at home in North Wales, the peeling, head-high waves provided a perfect canvas for him to showcase his ability.

Taking to the water in Heat 5 of Round 1 Llywelyn found himself competing against para-surf legend, and competitive rival, Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart. Knowing that Mono consistently challenges Llywelyn for top honours across the Para Surf League and World Tour and would probably be his biggest obstacle to overcome for the overall top spot, Llywelyn was keen to lay an early marker down. Coming out of the blocks quickly enabled Llywelyn to lock in a commanding heat score of 15.33 and take top spot, beating Mono into second place by over seven points.

Sporting a distinctive cap in the water to protect him from the blazing sun, Llywelyn continued his sparkling form with another dominant performance in Heat 2 of Round 2, racking up a score of 15.74. This heat also saw up-and-coming Welsh surfer Isaac Heaher take second place although unfortunately this was not enough for Isaac to reach the semi-final stage. Round 2 also saw a huge upset with Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart failing to progress to the semi-finals after taking only one low-scoring wave during a difficult Heat 5 in worsening conditions.

After two dominant performances and the elimination of one of Llywelyn’s biggest rivals the path towards a second World Title became clearer but still required some high-quality surfing to make the dream a reality. Leading from the outset in his semi-final with two waves scored in the sixes, Llywelyn then finished the heat with a bang securing the highest single wave score of the event with a 9.00 and followed it up with a 7.07 on his last wave of the heat to make it to the final in first place. Joining Llywelyn from this semi-final was Australian Reddog Wheatley, and from the other semi-final they would meet Ibon Oregui (ESP) and Henrique Saraiva (BRA) in the final.

While the final did not see a Llywelyn-Mono standoff as so many previous finals have, the level of competition was incredibly high with all four competitors in with a chance of taking home the gold medal. Tough competition came from Ibon Oregui who had already locked in the highest Heat Total of the event in Round 1 with a 16.33. Starting out strong in the final Brazilian Henrique Saravia took the lead with a 7.00, but Llywelyn quickly struck back with a 7.00 of his own on his second wave and followed this up with a 7.17 to take a commanding lead. Saravia’s efforts were then cut short due to an interference penalty and try as they might neither Reddog nor Oregui could claw back the deficit when the final hooter sounded. After a year of training and competing on both the Para Surf League and World Tour, Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams was World Champion once more.

The Mailing Room are proud to be able to support Llywelyn in his dreams to become World Champion and are delighted to be able to support the growth of para-surfing through Llywelyn’s Disability Surf Days around his home breaks in North Wales. As Llywelyn continues to surf competitively and get more people with disabilities in the water we will bring you regular updates.