Two weeks after making history as Mexico’s first surfer in the Olympics, 22-year-old Alan Cleland Quiñonez took his burgeoning career to yet another crest by winning the US Open of Surfing on Sunday.
The Colima native became the first Mexican champion in the 65-year history of the event, which is held every year in Huntington Beach, California, and is regarded as the world’s largest surfing competition.
In the grand final, Cleland bested another Mexican-born surfer, Marco Mignot, 23, of Sayulita, Nayarit. Thanks to his dual nationality, Mignot now represents France.
Cleland was born to a Mexican mother and an Irish father in Boca de Pascuales, a remote fishing village — and surfing hotspot — in the municipality of Tecomán, Colima. His father, also a surfer, put his son onto his first surfboard when he was only 2 years old.
As he grew, Cleland became better and better, turning professional at age of 13. Eight years after that, he qualified for the Summer Olympics in Paris during the 2023 World Surfing Games in El Salvador.
He made his Olympic debut on July 27, finishing second in a six-man heat to advance to the second round. The competition took place in the legendary surfing spot of Teahupo’o, Tahiti, which is 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) from Paris but is part of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France.
Surfing made its Olympic debut at Shidashita Beach in Japan as part of the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.
In Tahiti, Cleland made it through the second round but was defeated in the third round on July 29, one level shy of the quarterfinals. He lost to Frenchman Joan Duru, who scored 18.13 on his two best rides compared to 15.17 by Cleland.
Cleland’s participation in the US Open of Surfing began less than two weeks later on Aug. 9, when he took second in his heat. The Mexican surfer won his next heat to get into the round of 16, where the format turned to head-to-head competition and he beat Brazilian Michael Rodrigues.
In the quarterfinals, he beat American Crosby Colapinto, then topped Australian Jarvis Earle in the semifinals.
In a final that pitted two Mexican-born surfers against each other, Cleland’s 12.70 was just good enough to beat Mignot’s 12.60. Score one for Colima over Nayarit — and a big one for Mexico.
“It means everything to me to represent my flag, my entire country, my people,” he said. “It is an honor. Being able to put this flag up high is incredible. Viva Mexico!”
Cleland was appearing in his first final in surfing’s important Challenger Series, which will determine which 10 surfers will automatically qualify for the 2025 Championship Tour.
With his victory, Cleland jumped a whopping 42 spots in the rankings, all the way up to No. 9.
“It’s crazy … It feels amazing,” Cleland told the news and information website Surfer.com. “Especially having a final with one of my good friends who I grew up surfing with, literally since we were 8 years old. It’s an honor to see how far we’ve come. To have the support crew, the Mexico crew, all my friends and my dad, everybody here, it feels crazy.”
With reports from Récord, ESPN, El Financiero and Surfer.com
