Canadian surfer Sanoa Demple-Olin secures Olympic spot, Erin Brooks eliminated early at worlds

It was far from a lost week for Canada at the surfing world championships in Puerto Rico despite falling short of expectations to qualify multiple athletes for the Paris Olympics in July.

The team of three women and three men reached its goal of a top-10 finish, placing ninth after beginning the competition as the 16th seed. Canada was sixth last year, with Erin Brooks capturing a silver medal in El Salvador.

Sanoa Dempfle-Olin officially qualified for the Summer Games with a third-place finish Saturday in repechage 7 after provisionally securing a spot at the Pan Am Games last October in Santiago, Chile. And Dom Domic, executive director for Surf Canada, told CBC Sports he believes Cody Young will be a second reserve for the Games.

"I guess we didn't optimize everyone's potential in every heat and came up a little short," Domic said over the phone from Arecibo.

Dempfle-Olin, 18, posted the single-highest wave score (9.17) and heat total (17.70), surpassing reigning Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion Carissa Moore of Honolulu.

"I believe she had three of the top six wave scores," said Domic, adding the strong performance should see Sanoa seeded high for the Olympic competition. "She definitely has the firepower to compete with the best in the world. It's just [being] consistent heat to heat."

The surprise of the week for the Canadian squad was Brooks, the 16-year-old American Canadian sensation who was hoping to realize her dream of competing at her first Olympics.

She also missed a chance to clinch an Olympic berth when she couldn't participate at the Pan Am Games after the International Surfing Association reversed its decision to grant a request from Surfing Canada and Canadian Olympic Committee to