Huscenot Wins Soöruz Lacanau Pro

Final Lacanau Highlights

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Maxime Huscenot claims the iconic Soöruz Lacanau Pro Title in an all-French final.

Maxime Huscenot (FRA) has won the 2015 Soöruz Lacanau Pro in an exciting Final over recent Airwalk Pro Junior winner Nomme Mignot (FRA). Powerful 3-to-5-foot surf arrived overnight to greet competitors on the final day in Lacanau, a day mostly dominated by French surfers, who occupied six out of eight Quarterfinal spots.

Huscenot carried up the beach victorious amongst thousands of fans. - WSL / Damien Poullenot

Wasting no time in the Final, Huscenot's first wave of consequence came in as an 8.50 out of 10, the highest ride of the 30-minute bout. With an average backup score on the board, the Reunion Island native scoured the lineup and surfed a lot of waves, eventually belting a 7.10 to take the win. Powerful backhand hacks and commitment on the closeout sections were highly rewarded by the judges.

"My first QS win, I'm super stoked," Huscenot said. "It's just pure joy right now, especially cause I have friends here with me. I've put a lot of work into it and have had some good results in the major events, and I'm really happy it paid off today."

With the 3,000 ranking points collected in Lacanau, Huscenot will climb up the international rankings, edging closer to a potential qualification for the elite Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour.

"I'm sure this result will help my current situation on the rankings, but there's a long road ahead still to make the cut so I'll keep my focus for the future events," Huscenot continued. "We're going to have fun waves in the next event and I'll just try to have as much fun as I had here. A long left like this is definitely something that highlights my surfing. I grew up surfing a wave like that and I'm sure it helped me out here."

Mignot, who won the Junior division, had an exceptional run through the course of the contest, posting huge scores to best some of the finest surfers on the QS for a shot at a double-win, a feat only reigning World Champion Gabriel Medina (BRA) has achieved in Lacanau.

Mignot stepped up his game to reach the QS final - WSL / Damien Poullenot

"It would have been incredible to win again today, but hats off to Max he really smashed it," Mignot said. "I'm super happy and extremely tired now. It's a huge boost for my confidence and it really opened my eyes, I'm ready to take on the big leagues. I love what I do and I'll continue to try and win more heats."

One of the event highlights was Mignot's ousting of Joan Duru (FRA). Coming in ranked No. 7 before Lacanau, Duru will slightly improve his season tally with his equal third finish and move on to the next event in Anglet full of confidence to surf on home turf.

Duru confirmed his power-surfer status in Lacanau - WSL / Damien Poullenot

"It was good to make some heats," Duru stated. "I would have loved to win a couple more but it was great to have a good run in France. I broke my favorite board yesterday but I had a good backup and I felt great out there."

Morocco's Ramzi Boukhiam fell short to Huscenot's momentum in the Semis, missing out on a ticket for the Final by a mere 0.7. The talented goofyfooter who has had a difficult season so far collects his best result in 2015, an equal third in Lacanau.

Boukhiam finally scores a strong result in 2015 - WSL / Damien Poullenot

"I haven't made any heats this year so it was great to finally win a couple, and against some good friends like Marc Lacomare, Joan and everyone," Boukhiam said. "They've all been ripping, all the Europeans and some internationals, it was a good comp for me and we had some good waves in the end."

With their excellent results in Lacanau, Huscenot, Mignot, Duru and Boukhiam will occupy the four highest spots in the European title race respectively, closely followed by Adrien Toyon (FRA).