This Sister Act wasn’t a movie plot but the real deal for two Island surfers.
Mathea Dempfle-Olin defeated younger sibling Sanoa Dempfle-Olin by a razor’s edge 1.0 points in the final Sunday at the SLO CAL Open at Morro Bay, California, to become the first Canadian to win a women’s World Surf League qualifying series event.
“This is definitely a dream come true for both of us,” said Mathea Dempfle-Olin, by phone from California.
“There’s no one else I would rather surf a final with and am so proud of my little sister Sanoa. I was almost more nervous watching Sanoa than I was about my own runs. Our family was happy with whoever won.”
But in the end these rising Tofino surf stars — Mathea is 20 and Sanoa 17 — are true competitors.
“I did not want to lose to anybody in the final, my sister or anybody else,” said Mathea, who upset world top-10 Ella McCaffray of the U.S. in the semifinals.
“So I surfed as I would in any other final.”
The sisters come from an athletic background and genes — mom Dion was a dancer and dad George Dempfle on the German national ski team and was a heli-ski guide — and pushed each other growing up on Cox Bay.
“I’ve looked up to my sister my whole life, and to be in a World Surf League qualifying final with her, was so exciting and special,” said Sanoa Dempfle-Olin.
“Our family couldn’t pick favourites but there was no losing for them. It was a win all-round for our family and friends. I am so proud of my sister for being the first Canadian woman to win a [qualifying event] and I am so happy I got to share the final with her.”
Tofino, the spiritual and actual home of Canadian surfing, became a new focal point of sports coverage when surfing was added to the Olympic Games for Tokyo and will continue for Paris 2024 and likely also for Los Angeles 2028.
“There is no place I would rather live,” said Mathea Dempfle-Olin, of her hometown Tofino.
“I am definitely excited to get the Olympic opportunity again and hope to earn sa国际传媒 an Olympic qualifying spot at the Pan Am Games this year [in Santiago, Chile, from where the Pan Am gold medallist will be 2024 Olympics-bound],” said Mathea.
The Islander came close last time for Tokyo 2020 by taking bronze in the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games. The 2024 Olympic surfing competition will take place half a world away from Paris in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, amid the vaunted waves there known as the Wall of Skulls.
The Dempfle-Olin siblings, meanwhile, took big steps toward the top-tier World Surf League Championship Tour with Mathea earning 1,000 points by winning the North American women’s qualifying series event Sunday and Sanoa 850 points as runner-up. Mathea is 17th in the qualifying series and Sanoa moved into the top-25.
