Day 3 of the Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior saw difficult conditions, but featured big, chunky lefts for Europe's best Juniors to perform.
The Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior recommenced on the third day of the event's waiting period in wind-affected three-to-five foot waves at San Juan. Despite the bumpy lineup and tricky conditions, Junior talents put on quite a show on the solid sections of the iconic lefthand pointbreak.
Holly Wawn (AUS) 17, dominated the women's field and nailed a near-perfect 9.67 for two massive backhand turns on a solid set wave. The young Australian took maximum risks to hit the critical sections of the waves while battling the chops and bumps in the lineup.
Wawn dominated in today's bumpy conditions. - WSL / Gines Diaz
"It's really windy and all-over the place, but I thought if I could catch a set and do two good turns I'd get a better score than four turns on a little wave," Wawn explained. "I like a bit of size where you don't have to work so hard in between turns. I've been staying with Teresa (Bonvalot) for the past five weeks and I thought it could be fun to come here to Canaries instead of going back home to surf beachbreaks again."
Ariane Ochoa (EUK) 17, followed right in Wawn's footsteps and adopted the same strategy, capitalizing on the biggest waves on offer to destroy a couple of sections on her forehand. With the second best combined heat total of 17.07, Ochoa demonstrated her talent in San Juan and looks in an ideal position to improve on her current third place on the European Junior rankings.
"I started that heat pretty bad and couldn't find a decent wave, but thankfully I found a couple of nice ones to make it through," Ochoa said. "It was tough, I've had a bit of training here but today the conditions were really different, and even though I analyzed the conditions before my heat, once out there I couldn't really find the waves I was looking for. I'm super happy and very motivated to surf and win a few more heats !"
In the men's event, Andy Criere (FRA) 20, belted one of the day's highest combined heat total and advanced alongside current rankings No.2 Nomme Mignot (FRA) 18 into the Round of 16. Criere and Mignot put on an exciting show and battled on back-to-back waves during their 30-minute exchange with multiple lead changes. Eventually, Criere solidified his pole position with a second solid score and stayed out of Mignot's reach.
"The wind got into it and all the waves weren't good anymore," Criere analyzed. "That was a tricky heat and I knew everyone could win that one, Nomme has been on fire all year, but I stuck to what I can do and I'm happy it worked out. I've been staying here with Natxo (Gonzalez) and he's a fun guy to stay with, always with positive energy and we try to help each other."
Most other top seeds made their way into the Round of 16 as well, making the European Junior Title race even tighter and exciting as we advance towards the business end of the Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior.
Rankings leader Gonzalez advanced logically into the fourth round. - WSL / Gines Diaz
Surfers and event officials will re-assess conditions on Saturday at 10AM, for a possible re-start of both the men and women's events.
-
Lifestyle - Lanzarote 2015
- WSL / Adrian Rodd
-
Tommy Boucaut (FRA) - Lanzarote 2015
- WSL / Gines Diaz
-
Timothee Bisso (GLP) - Lanzarote 2015
- WSL / Gines Diaz
Women Steal the Show on Day 3 of Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior
WSL
The Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior recommenced on the third day of the event's waiting period in wind-affected three-to-five foot waves at San Juan. Despite the bumpy lineup and tricky conditions, Junior talents put on quite a show on the solid sections of the iconic lefthand pointbreak.
Holly Wawn (AUS) 17, dominated the women's field and nailed a near-perfect 9.67 for two massive backhand turns on a solid set wave. The young Australian took maximum risks to hit the critical sections of the waves while battling the chops and bumps in the lineup.
"It's really windy and all-over the place, but I thought if I could catch a set and do two good turns I'd get a better score than four turns on a little wave," Wawn explained. "I like a bit of size where you don't have to work so hard in between turns. I've been staying with Teresa (Bonvalot) for the past five weeks and I thought it could be fun to come here to Canaries instead of going back home to surf beachbreaks again."
Ariane Ochoa (EUK) 17, followed right in Wawn's footsteps and adopted the same strategy, capitalizing on the biggest waves on offer to destroy a couple of sections on her forehand. With the second best combined heat total of 17.07, Ochoa demonstrated her talent in San Juan and looks in an ideal position to improve on her current third place on the European Junior rankings.
"I started that heat pretty bad and couldn't find a decent wave, but thankfully I found a couple of nice ones to make it through," Ochoa said. "It was tough, I've had a bit of training here but today the conditions were really different, and even though I analyzed the conditions before my heat, once out there I couldn't really find the waves I was looking for. I'm super happy and very motivated to surf and win a few more heats !"
In the men's event, Andy Criere (FRA) 20, belted one of the day's highest combined heat total and advanced alongside current rankings No.2 Nomme Mignot (FRA) 18 into the Round of 16. Criere and Mignot put on an exciting show and battled on back-to-back waves during their 30-minute exchange with multiple lead changes. Eventually, Criere solidified his pole position with a second solid score and stayed out of Mignot's reach.
"The wind got into it and all the waves weren't good anymore," Criere analyzed. "That was a tricky heat and I knew everyone could win that one, Nomme has been on fire all year, but I stuck to what I can do and I'm happy it worked out. I've been staying here with Natxo (Gonzalez) and he's a fun guy to stay with, always with positive energy and we try to help each other."
Most other top seeds made their way into the Round of 16 as well, making the European Junior Title race even tighter and exciting as we advance towards the business end of the Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior.
Surfers and event officials will re-assess conditions on Saturday at 10AM, for a possible re-start of both the men and women's events.
Holly Wawn
Top 17 athletes launch their Pantin campaign as QS frontrunners fight to stay in the mix.
Check out a selection of images from last year's Caraïbos Lacanau Pro.
Pristine surf streamed into the Zippers lineup all day Saturday, and top seeds took advantage of each opportunity.
The upcoming Qualifying Series 6,000-level event features some of the world's top surfers battling to break through to the Dream Tour.
Only a lucky few make finals day at the Martinique Surf Pro as competition moves into the tense man-on-man matchups.
Lanzarote Teguise 2015 Franito Pro Junior
Dream a little with a selection of shots from beautiful Lanzarote.
Finals day unfolds in good waves at San Juan to crown the event champions and award the European Junior Titles.
Nelson Cloarec and Holly Wawn clinch the prestigious Franito Pro Junior titles in exciting final day of action.
The final European Junior event of 2015 sees huge upsets on Day 4 with both the men and women's ranking leaders eliminated at San Juan.
On the eve of the final day of European Junior competition, top form surfers dominate proceedings.