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Hawaii, South Africa and USA lead the charge for the World Title.
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This event website also contains live scoring, results, photos, and ON DEMAND video highlights from every heat in the event! |
Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship
May 30, 2008
Plage du Penon, Seignosse, Francia
We witnessed another day of spectacular surfing today on the beaches of Le
Penon, with 6 to 8 ft waves, perfectly shaped and very consistent. Another
day of more than 60 heats was run across the two podiums.
Four rounds of the repercharge and two rounds of the main event were run.
The Contest Director decided to hold the final day of competition tomorrow
because weather conditions on Sunday will not be good. Of the 261 surfers
who started the competition there are now 36, 12 in each division.
Today we found out which countries will be battling for first place in the
World Team Junior Championship: Hawaii, South Africa, USA, Australia, France,
New Zealand and Brazil – in this order of contention – will be fighting it
out tomorrow for the biggest honour in worldwide Junior surfing.
One step from the final
In the final of the Under 18 division main event we will see Owen Wright
from Australia, Tyler Newton from Hawaii, Paco Divers from New Zealand and
Alejo Muniz from Brazil.
Owen Wright is close to become the only surfer in history to win gold in the
Under 16 and Under 18. He was champion in Brazil in 2006, and today he
scored 15.83 which included a near-perfect 9.00 in a single wave. When he
came out of the water he said, “I had a good start on the heat with this 9,
I was nervous so I wanted to catch a wave quickly. It was a little bit bumpy
but I could do the manoeuvres I wanted to do. The team was strong, helping
me, doing everything possible to support me, so I had to get through.”
In the Under 16 division, the highlight of the competition was Peterson
Crisanto of Brazil. He posted the highest wave score -a perfect 10- that he
backed up with a nine, giving him an unbeatable 19 total to push him a step
further towards the final. The first perfect score of the whole event was
achieved by a series of large stylish carves that he combined with strong
off the lips finishing on the beach amongst his Brazilian team supporters.
“I tried to project big manoeuvres in the critical part of the wave and the
wave was really good when I got to the inside. I could’ve fallen but thank
God I didn’t. I said to myself this is a 10,” he said of his perfect wave
and continued: “It was a difficult heat because the ocean conditions were
tricky, but I succeeded in catching the waves and I was stoked. Now I’m
going to dig deep to get to the final.”
Besides Crisanto, thus far victorious in the competition and now one step
from the final are the surfers Tamaroa McComb of Tahiti, Matty Costa from
Hawaii and local Ian Fontaine.
In the Girls’ division, finding themselves a step away from the final were
the Australian Laura Enever, American Courtney Conlogue, the New Zealander
Arini Mason and Local girl Alizée Arnaud.
The repercharge
The teams were battling it out in four rounds of the repercharge in the
Under 16 and Under 18 and in three rounds of the Girls’ Under 18. There were
surfers who had to enter the water four times in the day, like Mexican Dylan
Southworth, who attracted the attention of the crowds. He finished first in
his heats in the third, fourth and fifth rounds, but however he ended up
third in his sixth heat. Coming from Mexico, Southworth defeated various
members of traditionally strong teams.
Moving forward via the repercharge in the Under 18 were surfers Marc
Lacomare of France, south Africans Chad du Toit and Shaun Joubert, Kiwi Eli
Jacobs, the North American Dillon Perillo and the Australian Chris Salisbury.
Meanwhile waiting in the following round are Hawaiian Granger Larson and
North American Nat Young.
The excellent Hawaiian surfer Malia Manuel, had a similar day and is still
in contention. Manuel got through three heats in first place and now along
with Sage Erickson of the USA Tyler Wright of Australia, local Sarah Baum
and Leila Hurst will be looking to win a medal by way of the repercharge.
Waiting in the following rounds are South African Bianca Buitendag and
Hawaiian Coco Ho.
In the Under 16, looking for a medal but with no second chances are the
Brazilians Gabriel Medina and Jesse Mendes, Maxime Huscenot from France,
Jocelyn Poulou from Tahiti, Conner Coffin from United States and Thomas Wood
from Australia. Meanwhile, waiting in the following round are Beyrick de
Vries from South Africa and Johnatan Hicks from New Zealand.
Last year Gold Medalist André defeated today
A big upset was the defeat of defending Champion Jadson Andre who could not
overcome South African Matthew Bromley and Tahitian David Arimoana. As a
result there will not be back to back in the same division in this event.
French Minister of Sports attends the event
At 10:30 am, the French Minister of Sport, Mr. Bernard Laporte arrived. He
was welcomed by President of the ISA Fernando Aguerre, French Surfing
Federation Jean-Luc Arassus and Quiksilver Europe’s Pierre Agnès. A new
chapter in the book of French and European surfing history was written today,
for the first time such a high government official visited a surfing event
in France. He arrived with his entourage from Paris.
Aguerre considered the visit to be very positive, commenting, “For me it’s
very important that a personality high up in the Government is attending one
of our events. This is a man who works hand in hand with the President and
it is he who decides where to devote his budget. This is the reason this
visit is so prestigious and indicates the great management of the French
Federation.”
While the Minister was speaking, he emphasised the importance of having the
World Junior event in his country, “It is very important, because when one
organises a World Championship, the first thing it does is promote one’s
country, whether that be in football, rugby or surfing, this is the first
thing. It is also important for France because it is a growing sport and it
has to be good for our surfers.”
Tomorrow at 7:30am will begin the final day of competition. We will be
crowning the medallists of this World Championship and the World Champion
Team.
Live feeds will run from
www.quiksilver.com
Or via www.isasurf.org or www.isaworldchamp.com
For further info and free high resolution photos, please contact:
Pablo@isasurf.org
PHOTOS
Usage-free high quality images of today’s parade and each day’s events will
be available for worldwide press use at:
www.quiksilver-press.com Login: pressroom / password: quiksilverpress
VIDEO
Daily high-resolution video sequences will be available for free usage by TV
on a dedicated FTP server. http://inside-media.fr/isa2008
A 3-minute sequence of today’s highlights will be available from 8pm.
About International Surfing Association (ISA):
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for
surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the
International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world
championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over
50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego,
California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio,
and re-elected six times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan
Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and
Mike Gerard (USA).
