French athlete Eric Dargent, who has a prosthetic foot, surfs in his heat on the second day of competition at the World Para Surfing Championship in Pismo Beach, California, on December 6, 2022

Under perfect California skies, Liv Stone elegantly flips her board into the hollow of a wave, perfectly executing the kind of move this disabled surfer would love to replicate at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

Participating in the four-yearly festival of global sport would be a "dream come true," the 19-year-old says on the sidelines of the World Para Surfing Championship, where this week she is chasing a third title.

Born with truncated arms and under-developed hands, Stone says she fell in love with surfing in 2017, and thinks others would get to know the beauty of the sport if it were added into the Paralympics roster for 2028.

"I feel like I'm like a part of something bigger, and I don't feel discriminated against out there in the water," she tells AFP.

"That's what me and everyone else here that's competing have in common is we all have disabilities... and we feel one in the ocean, and it makes us feel at home."

Surfing burst onto the Olympic calendar at the last Games in Tokyo in 2021.

It will also feature when Paris hosts in 2024 -- though the competition will take place 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) away in Tahiti.

Liv Stone fell in love with surfing in 2017 and thinks others would get to know the beauty of the sport if it were added into the Paralympics roster for 2028

The Los Angeles edition is the first time it could feature in the Paralympics, with a decision by the International Paralympic Committee expected next year.

The deadline is on the minds of all 180 competitors who gathered in Pismo Beach this week.

South African Similo Dlamini, who was born without a right leg, was taking part in her first world championship, and was supported by a big -- and noisy -- contingent who huddled around her chanting and singing after she battled the foam for 20 minutes.

- 'New audience' -

Surfing allows "people like me who are differently abled to experience the ocean in ways that we have never thought we could," the 39-year-old accountant says.

South African athlete Similo Dlamini competes in her first World Para Surfing Championship in Pismo Beach, California

Costa Rica's Dariel Melendez, who has one leg, surfs on the second day of competition at the World Para Surfing Championship in Pismo Beach, California, on December 6, 2022