Championship Tour wildcard Leilani McGonagle: "I have always been a fighter"
From punching her way into the final heats at the World Surfing Games to earning a wildcard in the Championship Tour, Costa Rica's Leilani McGonagle has had a whirlwind two weeks. Olympics.com caught up with the young surfer to talk about beating Carissa Moore, losing Tokyo 2020 on a tie-break and the growth of female surfing in Latin America.
Surfing
Leilani McGonagle was not one of the athletes identified among the biggest threats when the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games started in El Salvador earlier this month.
But by the end of the nine-day event, the Costa Rican surfer was three heats away from making the final and had earned herself a wildcard for the El Salvador Pro stage of the World Championship Tour.
Her performance at the World Surfing Games included a Top 10 highest-scoring wave and a Top 10 highest-scoring heat total. She also did not disappoint on the Championship Tour where she came just 0.70 points below the score of world No.2 Tyler Wright in the elimination round.
While McGonangle's confidence on the waves took some by surprise, the surfer herself never had any doubt she could perform well under pressure.
“Ever since I was little I have had very big dreams and I think they came about from growing up in such a small town. Many times people did not believe that such a big dream is possible, but I have always been a fighter and I have fought for what I trust and what I believe in,” McGonangle told Olympics.com. “Since I was very little I have had very big dreams and I never gave up.”
Leaving El Salvador with a solid record in back-to-back international competitions, McGonangle now has her sights set on returning to the Championship Tour as a regular, qualifying to her second Olympic Games and continuing to drive the progression of female surfing in Latin America.
Leilani McGonagle: One goal accomplished, another goal set
Making it onto the World Championship Tour has been a long-time dream for 23-year-old McGonangle.
Her parents took her surfing for the first time when she was two and with the advantage of being raised next to Pavones, one of the best left hand point breaks in Latin America, McGonagle quickly developed an impressive skill set on the board.
Soon she was competing and turning heads with her junior results, ultimately becoming the North American Junior champion.
Her next target was qualifying for the Championship Tour, and she embarked on that mission with confidence.
“Since I was little I was always blessed to have parents who were very supportive and when I said that I had a dream of being the best surfer in the world, they told me, ‘Well, OK, but you have to work very hard and know that there are going to be a lot of sacrifices’,” McGonagle said. “A lot of people believed in me and I think that also comes from the confidence within. For me it has always been very important to do everything possible to be calm, giving 100 percent of me, win or lose.”
That confidence helped McGonagle reach results that almost got her into the Championship Tour. She came tantalisingly close to joining the elite line-up in 2018 after finishing in the Top 10 seven times during the season.
While she missed the cut in 2018, McGonagle continued to work on her skills in the hopes of competing with the best. That effort paid off at the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games as she won six out of her nine heats and beat two Championship Tour competitors, including world no.1 Carissa Moore.
This result, McGonagle said, is further proof of the growth in female surfing in her region.
“I am a person who is extremely proud of the progression of female surfing, especially in Latin America. I feel that we are a little behind and in this Olympic cycle we have found empowerment and purpose because people are now validating our dream and our goal and they are supporting us to reach the big dream that is to represent our country,” McGonagle said.
“I am very proud to be a part of that opportunity and that aspiration of women to become something bigger in our countries and I believe that each one is doing her best to accomplish this and I am proud.”
Tokyo 2020: Eliminated by a tie break
One of McGonagle’s proudest moments as a Costa Rican was competing in the inaugural Olympic surfing competition at Tokyo 2020, which she qualified for through the 2021 ISA World Surfing Games, also held in El Salvador.
“You really don't realise how big the Olympic Games are until you arrive,” McGonagle said. “There was one moment in particular, when we went out to the stadium during the Opening Ceremony, that opened my eyes and gave me goosebumps. It was amazing because I said, ‘Wow, look where I am. I am really here and with the sport’s elite’. I have never experienced something so full in my life and I have never felt so proud to represent my country.”
As happy as McGonagle was to don the national uniform at an Olympic Games, the competition itself was a rollercoaster of emotions that she at times struggled to deal with.
Placing among the bottom two surfers in the first round, McGonangle was then eliminated in the second round in a tie break that gave the advantage to Japan’s Mahina Maeda.
Looking back almost two years since that heat, McGonangle has not only come to terms with its outcome but also learned to value it.
“It was a heart-breaking moment, but I think that as an athlete and a person I grew a lot,” she said. “That helped me adjust my expectations for Paris (2024). Hopefully I can use those lessons and grow and really become what I think I am capable of.”
Leilani McGonagle: Mindset first
McGonagle’s competition heartbreak at Tokyo 2020 was followed by a case of post-Olympic depression. It was not a situation the surfer had thought she would ever be in and she struggled to get past those feelings.
“It's a subject that many people don't talk about,” McGonagle said. “It was very difficult to fight it and I thought I was alone and in fact social networks opened the doors for me to talk with other surfers and other athletes from the Olympic Games on the subject. I saw that there was community and support on that topic, and I was very proud of myself for learning about that subject because it was not something that I had accepted before that.”
Having overcome her own mental health struggle, McGonagle is eager to let others know - especially her hefty social media audience that now counts 115K followers on Instagram - that it is normal to feel vulnerable.
“Social media is something that can give us a lot of encouragement, but also sometimes we compare ourselves to the rest and my life is definitely not perfect. What is seen on social media is only 1 percent of what I do in my everyday life,” McGonagle said.
“To people who are going through a difficult time, I would say that it is valid to feel those emotions. It's OK, just know that every day is an opportunity to take a step in a positive direction. Sometimes we're going to take a step back, but it's all good. You are not alone and you should appreciate the small things because tomorrow is an opportunity and a miracle.”