How many Olympic places are up for grabs at

the World Surfing Games?

There will be 24 surfers in both the men's and women's
competitions at the Olympics and a number have already qualified
courtesy of their ranking in the 2023 Championship Tour, the 2023
World Surfing Games and the 2023 Pan-American Games. There are
also guaranteed places for hosts, France.

The World Surfing Games are the final qualifying event and six men
and eight women will earn individual quotas for their National
Olympic Committees.

The competition is being held on the north coast of Puerto Rico at

Arecibo between 24 February and 3 March.

How good is Sky Brown and what does she

need to do to qualify?
Brown has been surfing since she was four years old and last year
competed in the Asian region of the Women's Qualifying Series,
ending the season ranked ninth.

She finished 17th in the World Junior Championships in her home

state of California in January.

Brown will be making her debut at the ISA World Surfing Games and
it is a step up in class.

The local reef break, Margara, is one of the most powerful waves
and it is one of the most challenging venues to host the
competition.

Brown has spent time surfing in Indonesia and the Philippines in an

attempt to get used to bigger conditions, and the waves in Puerto
Rico should also favour her goofy (left) style.

The world's top surfers from 50 countries will be competing. Brown

needs to finish at least in the top 16, to qualify a place for Team GB.

What is the format and schedule?

Both the men's and women's competitions are set to begin on
Saturday but they are dependent on the weather conditions.

The two top athletes in each heat advance to the next round. The
others do have another chance to advance through the repechage,
which is due to start on 27 February.

Once in the repechage round, surfers can still advance to the final if
they continue to place among the top two in their heats. Any lower
and they are eliminated.

Has Brown already qualified in

skateboarding?
For the moment they are busy dousing the blackened remains of the building to cool
it down, but flames have been seen reigniting at the rear so it could take some time.

Firefighters did manage to rescue some of the building's residents last night, and
several were injured doing so, but Spanish media say they could not reach the top
two floors in the 14-floor apartment blocks.

Drones have spent the night and this morning flying over and around the structure to
help with the search.

And it's not just firefighters who are trying to get into the wrecked buildings. Spain's
forensic police are waiting to go in with them to find out what caused Valencia's
worst fire on record, and why it spread so fast with such deadly consequences.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has just been speaking from Valencia, where
he thanked the emergency services, particularly firefighters, for their essential work.

His government, he said, is there to provide "all types of support" for the immediate
rescue operation, and clarify what happened.

The priority right now is the search for victims, Sanchez said, and the safety of those
involved in the rescue.

The PM made just a brief appearance. He said he was moved by the wave of
solidarity and empathy he had witnessed across the Campanar neighbourhood and
the wider city.
Spanish media reports say firefighters who have worked all morning trying to cool
the buildings have now been able to go inside - though only up to the third storey
due to the intensity of the temperatures.

New details are emerging about the sheer ferocity of the fire, which spread
throughout the two buildings in just half an hour.

El Pais reports that one firefighter had to jump from the seventh floor onto a mat.

Others reached the 12th floor - the buildings had 14 - and were able to rescue
residents.

The Spanish outlet reports that six of those firefighters received psychological
treatment afterwards.

Emergency workers are known to be among nine people taken to hospital, local
media say. Seven firefighters have been treated and five are in hospital. Their status
is not believed to be critical.