SA junior surfers finish 8th in world champs
South Africa finished eighth at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships.
THE South African junior surfing team finished in eighth place out of the 32 nations which competed in the VISSLA ISA World Surfing Championships in Ecuador at the weekend, with the Hawaiian team claiming the ISA World Junior Team Champion Trophy and the team gold medal.
Going into the final day in seventh place in the provisional team standings, and with just one surfer still in contention, the SA team needed Joshe Faulkner to qualify for the U16 boys grand final in order to maintain or better their position among the top seven nations who receive invitations to compete in the prestigious ISA Aloha Cup at the following year’s edition of the world’s biggest junior surfing event.
In an increasing swell that produced two-metre plus waves and a powerful wash making paddling difficult on the last day, Faulkner gave his all in the qualifying final but could not find the high scoring rides in the 20 minute encounter and placed fourth.
Earning another chance to reach the last four in the division via the repercharge stream final, the teenager was again hindered by wave selection and despite riding well on the waves he did catch, his three opponents all accumulated higher scores on better waves and he had to be content with 6th position overall, the highest placed South African in Ecuador.
Hawaii dominated the gold medal count at the event, adding both girls’ titles to the team title when Tatiana Weston Webb and Mahina Maeda repeated their gold medal performances in Nicaragua last year in the U18 and U16 divisions respectively and also earning gold in the Aloha Cup final on Friday.
In addition to Faulkner’s heroics in the U16 boys, Teal Hogg was the next highest placed South African in equal 16th position in the U18 girls while Cana Foster ended equal 22nd in the U16 girls. Team captain Max Armstrong and Shane Sykes in the U18 boys and Ethan Fletcher and Jordy Maree in U16 boys all finished equal 25th in their respective divisions.
The SA team included a total of seven new caps, all of whom will have learned plenty about international competition while in Ecuador.
