Julian Wilson and Owen Wright, along with France's
Pauline Ado, are the new world champions after
victories at the Quiksilver ISA World Junior
Surfing Championships at Maresias Beach, Brazil,
today. Australia also claimed the overall World
Junior Champion Team title.
The finals of the Under 18 and 16 Boys, and
Under 18 Girls, were all hotly contested in
powerful five to six foot (1.5 - 2 metre) waves,
the best surf of the eight-day competition.
The Under 18 Boys final was an incredible battle
with Wilson (Coolum, Qld) getting off to an
early lead before being pursued by South Africa's
top gun, Jordy Smith, of Durban.
With a massive crowd on the beach roaring encouragement,
the pair exchanged huge floaters and re-entries,
with Smith fighting back with a big aerial reverse
manoeuvre that scored 8.33 (out of 10) to narrow
the gap.
But Wilson held off the challenge to win by
17.67- 16.90 points, with fellow Australian
Caleb Reid-Boquist (Bronte, NSW) in third (14.50)
and France's Jeremy Flores fourth (13.87).
"Being the world champion is the best feeling
I've ever had in my whole life," Wilson,
17, said. "I am so happy. I've come second
once before, and the feeling was good, but coming
first is so much better. The waves really turned
on for the final and it was so intense out in
the water. My tactics were to get two good scores
early and put a bit of pressure on. Then Jordy
came back at me and it was just wave for wave."
No one on the beach could believe the level
of surfing reached by the four Under 18 finalists.
"The talent in the final was incredible,
they're the best surfers in the world, and coming
to the world titles you don't expect anything
less," Wilson said.
Wilson credited the Australian team as a whole.
"We've got a strong Australian team here
and everyone has helped each other out as we're
good friends."
He was also surprised by the excellent surf
throughout the event: "Coming to Brazil,
I bought my small boards and didn't expect the
good waves that we got.
I've been gob-smacked by the waves, they've
been amazing," he said.
Owen Wright (Culburra, NSW) also started fast
in the Under 16 Boys final, locking in some
brilliant early rides to have his opponents
needing a combination of scores to catch him.
Wright hit peak form in the final and he easily
won with 16.20 points, ahead of Brazil's Alejo
Muniz (11.64), South Africa's Shaun Joubert
(10.80) and France's Marc Lacomare (8.20).
"All my buddies here were cheering me on
and that got me fired up for the final and I'm
stoked to come out on top," Wright, 16,
said. "I hadn't put together a brilliant
heat all week so I thought to myself: 'I may
as well do it now.' I got a good early score
and then just tried to keep building on it.
"The standard has been so good here that
I was sweating and I didn't get much sleep last
night but it paid off. There's been so much
support from the Australian team here that it
makes you want to go twice as hard," he
said.
The Under 18 Girls final came down to the wire,
with Pauline Ado (Hendaye, France) scoring an
8.93 (out of 10) in the last minute to take
the lead from Australian Sally Fitzgibbons (Gerroa,
NSW). Ado narrowly won by 15.50 points - Fitzgibbons'
15.06, with Brazil's Diana Souza third on 9.50
and New Zealand's Airini Mason fourth on 7.33.
Ado, 15, said she had seen Fitzgibbons surf
in Australia and knew that she was in for a
tough final. "I can't believe that I am
the world champion," Ado said. "I
didn't get very good waves at the beginning
but when I finished my last ride, I hoped that
I had the score I needed - and I did. I am so
happy to be the world champion and it's my ambition
to be a professional surfer."
Ado's victory helped France record their best
finish ever at this event, a runner-up placing
to Australia, and ahead of Brazil, Hawaii, South
Africa and USA.
The final of the ISA Cup was contested by the
top teams today and the South African team (Shaun
Joubert, Jordy Smith, Kyle Lane, Rudy Palmbloom
and Nikita Robb) won with 65.52 points, ahead
of Australia (55.04), New Zealand (38.76) and
France (32.10).
On total pointscore, Australia had a clear win
on 6,292 points to claim the ISA World Junior
Champion Team title, with France second (5,029),
Brazil third (4,688), Hawaii fourth (4,626),
South Africa fifth (4,560) and USA sixth (3,948).
All winners and top placegetters were awarded
medals.
Australia finished fourth overall in Huntington
Beach, California, last year, after winning
every title in Tahiti in 2004, and Australia's
head coach, Sasha Stocker, said this year's
results were a big turnaround for the team.
"Last year we saw a major increase in the
standard of surfing at this competition and
our Team Australia programs were influenced
by that," Stocker said. "All credit
must go to the Australian Sports Commission
for their support of Australian surfing and
to our athletes, who are an amazing group of
talented young surfers."
A local Brazilian surfer, Alcino Neto - better
know at Pirata (the pirate) - performed an exhibition
today of adaptive surfing. Neto, 36, lost a
leg as a teenager when hit by a drunken driver
while riding his motorcycle. Despite the setback,
Neto still manages to stand on his surfboard
and enjoy the sport he took up as an eight-year-old.
"The accident has never stopped me,"
he said. "I encourage all disabled people
to try surfing. Here in Brazil I run surf schools
using special equipment."
The ISA President, Fernando Aguerre, said: "What
an event! The best junior surfers from every
surfing nation, great waves every day, the festive
Brazilian spirit that we all love & diverse
cultures, races and religions sharing the beach
and waves, and competing just for honor and
medals. Congratulations to all medallists."
This year 27 countries and 251 athletes competed
in the event. The final placings (in order of
finishing) were: Australia, France, Brazil,
Hawaii, South Africa, USA, New Zealand, Venezuela,
Tahiti, Portugal, Peru, Japan, Ecuador, United
Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Spain,
Barbados, Italy, Uruguay, Jamaica, Canada, Germany,
Dominican Republic, Sweden and Guatemala.
The next Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing
Championships will be held in Portugal in May
2007.
For detailed results, news and
photos, please visit www.quiksilver.com/isa
For further information, please contact:
Kirk Willcox (on site in Brazil)
Quiksilver International Media Manager
kirk.willcox@quiksilver.com.au
Phone: +61 407 063 829
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