Canadian Victoria Feige adds to trophy case, wins fifth para surfing gold medal

By The Canadian Press on November 13, 2023.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – Canadian Victoria Feige had added to her trophy cabinet with a fifth gold medal at the 2023 ISA World Para Surfing Championship (WSPC).

The 38-year-old Feige, now based in Hawaii, won the women’s kneel division Saturday with Brazil’s Vera Quaresma taking the silver. Spain’s Audrey Pascual earned bronze and France’s Emmanuelle Blanchet collected a copper medal for fourth (surfing is competed in one-on-one heats)

“Seeing the level rise, it’s so sweet to have a victory, but seeing the movement rise is probably the best part,” Feige said. “It’s also so empowering, because I feel like I’m not alone, there’s other girls in the world with disabilities like mine who’ve got that fire to really push the level.”

Feige grew up in Vancouver and learned to surf at 16 in Tofino. At 18, she overshot a jump while snowboarding and landed badly, sustaining a spinal fracture.

Feige returned to skiing and surfing a year later as a sit-skier and adaptive surfer with partial paralysis, later becoming an adaptive instructor in both sports. She started competing in adaptive surfing in 2016.

Also on the weekend, Ling Pai won a copper medal in the women’s visually Impaired category while fellow Canadian Lisa Franks, no stranger to the medal podium from her days as a wheelchair racer, took bronze in the sit category.

Canada finished 10th out of 27 countries competing.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2023

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