Peruvian Sol Aguirre will compete in her first challenger this year at the US Open of Surfing, which will take place in Huntington Beach, California, from July 30 to August 7.

Aguirre confirmed to DUKE that she received an invitation from the WSL to participate in the event.

“It was last minute. I wrote to them if they thought I would get in, and when there were only a few days left and I was still third (on the waiting list), I said to myself: “I'm going to buy a ticket or not and travel there. And I said, I'm coming from Indonesia, and it's not certain, I'd rather stay here in Lima and train. It's a few weeks, see my family and go straight to Panama… And one day before (leaving), they let me know that they didn't give me the wildcard,” she said.

The Peruvian traveled from Indonesia to compete in her first CT in Saquarema, Brazil. From there she returned to Indonesia where she trained with her father and friends.

Last year Aguirre competed in three of the four challengers held and finished in 58th place.

She is currently the leader of the WSL Latin America rankings.