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Welsh para surfer Llywelyn ‘Sponge’ Williams has won the ISA World Para Surfing Championship for the fourth year in a row. Williams, from Abersoch, Wales, has won the men’s kneeling category every year since 2022.
The event took place in Oceanside, California on Saturday, November 7, in idyllic conditions and head-high surf. Rounding out the podium were Dijackson Santos of Brazil in second place and Mexico’s Juan Martin Diaz Martinez in third.
At 16, Williams was skateboarding home from a friend’s house when he was hit by a car. He suffered a head injury, broken femur, dislocated hips, shattered pelvis, punctured lung, perforated bowel, split liver and a lower back injury. Though doctors tried their best to save the limb, eventually he contracted sepsis, requiring the amputation of his right leg above the knee. Williams was then placed in an induced coma for a week, then spent another six in intensive care.
It wasn’t long after waking up that he returned to the water, though. Since then, he’s managed to reach the World Championship finals nine times.
“Finished the year on a high,” wrote Williams on Instagram. “Four years in a row I’ve managed to defend my ISA World Para Surfing Championship gold, closing it out with four solid heat wins. AWESOME feeling to keep the gold in Wales again.”
