Brazilian Gabriel Medina and New Zealand’s Ella Williams have been crowned the 2013 ASP World Junior Champs, after claiming victory at Joaquina Beach in Florianopolis, Brazil.
Making it all the way to the quarter-finals and finishing equal fifth, were South Africans Slade Prestwich and Bianca Buitendag, who put up a strong fight in the tough conditions.
Slade was shredding, but couldn’t find the waves to defeat Gabriel in the tricky conditions.
It was in fact Slade that gave Gabriel his toughest challenge on the final day, but the Dream Tour surfer managed to punt some huge backhand airs into the cross shore breeze and amass a heat score of 16.62 to Slade’s 14.97.
Gabriel then defeated Japan’s Hiroto Ohhara in the semi-finals, before whipping Moroccan Ramzi Boukiam in the final to claim his first ASP World Junior Champs title.
An equal fifth is a solid result to end a stellar year of competitive surfing for Bianca Buitendag.
In the Pro Junior Women’s division, Vic Bay local Bianca Buitendag was leading her quarter final heat against Caribbean surfer Chelsea Tuach, but the surfer from Barbados managed to find a sneaky right-hander in the dying minutes of the heat to grab the victory over her more fancied opponent.
Eventual winner Ella Williams beat Hawaiian Mahina Maeda in the quarter-finals, France’s Johanne Defay in the semis, before triumphing over another Hawaiian, Tatiana Weston-Webb, in the final.
Six other South African’s competed at the HD World Junior Champs:
Dylan Lightfoot – 17th
Michael February – 17th
Steven Sawyer – 17th
Emma Smith – 17th
David van Zyl – 33rd
Diran Zakarian – 33rd
Check out all the results, highlights and photos on http://www.hd-wjc.com/
FINAL DAY RESULTS:
MEN’S HD WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL RESULT:
Gabriel Medina (BRA) 18.26
2 def. Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 11.60
MEN’S HD WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 16.03 def. Matt Banting (AUS) 12.33
SF 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.94 def. Hiroto Ohhara (JPN) 10.54
MEN’S HD WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Matt Banting (AUS) 15.37 def. Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 13.33
QF 2: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 14.00 def. Oney Anwar (IDN) 11.04
QF 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.64 def. Slade Prestwich (ZAF) 14.97
QF 4: Hiroto Ohhara (JPN) 10.17 def. Vehiatua Prunier (PYF) 9.24
WOMEN’S HD WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS FINAL RESULT:
Ella Williams (NZL) 11.97
2 def. Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 9.23
WOMEN’S HD WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 15.34 def. Chelsea Tuach (BRB) 8.33
SF 2: Ella Williams (NZL) 10.34 def. Johanne Defay (FRA) 10.06
WOMEN’S HD WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 14.66 def. Frankie Harrer (USA) 10.44
QF 2: Chelsea Tuach (BRB) 12.30 def. Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 12.17
QF 3: Ella Williams (NZL) 9.67 def. Mahina Maeda (HAW) 8.83
QF 4: Johanne Defay (FRA) 15.87 def. Stephanie Single (AUS) 6.30
