Olympic dream: Teenage surfing star Erin Brooks readies for last-chance qualifier ahead of Paris Games

Erin Brooks picked up her passport in Vancouver on Jan. 18 to end a two-and-a-half-year fight to become a Canadian citizen and didn't hesitate to mark the occasion in typical Canadian fashion.

"I went straight to Tim Hortons to get my fix and then grabbed some bags of ketchup-flavoured Lays chips for my flight [that aren't available in the United States]," the professional surfer recalled in an interview with CBC Sports last week from her training base in Hawaii. "I definitely have some Canadian taste buds."

A few hours later, the 16-year-old attended her first Canucks NHL game at Rogers Arena, a 2-1 Vancouver win over the visiting Arizona Coyotes.

"People put so much heart into [being at the game] and had their face painted. I've never seen fans that excited," said Brooks, who was sworn in as a documented Canadian citizen two days earlier.

"I wanted to get a Canucks jersey but [my dad Jeff, a dual American-Canadian citizen] was like, 'Let's get one of Montreal because that's who I grew up watching and it would make your grandpa happy.'"

The nine-day competition, held in the municipality of Arecibo on the reef breaks of Margara, is the last chance for over 400 athletes to qualify for the Paris Olympics this summer.

Mathea Dempfle-Olin, 21, and her younger sister Sanoa, from Tofino, B.C., are vying with Brooks for two likely spots in the women's competition. Should one of them win and the others score well, Canada would be allotted a third spot — "a dream," according to Brooks.

Sanoa, 18, provisionally qualified for the Olympics by reaching the women's final at the Pan Am Games last October in Santiago, Chile, meaning her sister or Brooks could bump her from the Summer Games should they post higher scores in Puerto Rico, according to Dom Domic, executive director for Surf Canada.

"Mathea and Sanoa are such great surfers and nice people," Brooks said. "It would be hard to go [to Paris without one of them] because we're like a little family of girls."

Brooks won a silver medal at the 2023 worlds in El Salvador last June and is excited for the opportunity to realize her dream of securing an Olympic berth.

"I felt confident in all of the waves [at the recent camp] in Puerto Rico. I feel physically ready and mentally ready," said Brooks, who turned pro at 12 and learned a valuable lesson at worlds last summer.

"Last year I fell into the repechage round early because of a judging [issue out of my control] and had to go through 13 heats and five in one day. Focusing on taking it heat by heat will help me not get too nervous."

In Puerto Rico, the primary wave is slated to be Margara, a lesser-known reef break and one of the more potentially dangerous waves in the world, Domic noted. The twin breaks of El Pico and Rastrial offers solid waves.

"The waves remind me a lot of Hawaii, so I feel comfortable, and out of the water everyone is nice," said Brooks, who begins each day with a workout and four to six hours of surfing. "Whenever I like [a place] a lot I tend to do much better."