Poeti Norac: French surfing champion dies aged 24 in Australia
The surfer, who moved to Queensland's Sunshine Coast a few months ago, often posted inspirational messages on social media.
Friday 7 February 2020 17:42, UK
Poeti Norac, one of the rising stars of surfing, has died in Australia aged 24, the French Surfing Federation has confirmed.
Norac, from the Vendee region in France, died last weekend, but the cause of death has not been confirmed.
The surfer, who had moved to Queensland's Sunshine Coast a few months ago, had enjoyed 10 victories in the Coupe du France.
She also made the finals of France's national championships, coming second in 2018 and third in 2016 having started surfing aged six, with her father, Bruno.
She began in shortboard surfing before specialising in longboard surfing in which she had been competing for 10 years.
The sportswoman often posted inspirational messages on social media while visiting spectacular coastal locations.
"It's your path and only yours. People can walk by your side but no one can walk for you," she wrote last year.
The French Surfing Federation said in a statement on its website: "The surfing community has lost a family member, a beautiful person with a radiant smile, an artist on her board and whose enthusiasm radiated in the Vendee and everywhere else."
She was, it added, an "outstanding educator" who "transmitted her passion for surfing and the ocean."
A ceremony will be held soon to celebrate her life, the federation said.
Oxbow, a surfing brand that sponsored Norac, wrote on Instagram: "It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of our young ambassador Poeti Norac.
"It is with a heavy heart that we send her loved ones and her many friends our most sincere and deep condolences. Her smile will forever be etched in our memories."