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Action Continues in Fun Surf at Junior Pro Espinho
Nicolas Leroy
A second day of action at the Junior Pro Espinho allowed competitors to complete another round of both the men and women's events in tiny but contestable conditions.
14 year-old Stanley Norman claimed a second consecutive heat win and advanced into the all-important (and scary) top seeds round. The Cornish born and bred surfer is steadily building experience on tour and will most likely be going for event titles soon, leading a new generation of British athletes along the way.
"You just have to get up fast, do one pump and a turn and try to keep your momentum for the rest of the wave," Norman stated. "It makes it a lot easier when you're smaller, it's super fun. We have good practice in England for those conditions, sometimes it pays off. But I travel a lot to experience other conditions. I just spent six months in Australia to train over there, there's a lot of better surfers and it's good to push yourself."
If you haven't heard much of Stan yet, make sure you check the clip 'STAN - A clip about Stanley Eric Norman' on Vimeo. In the meantime, we'll update you on how he develops as a competitive surfer through the European junior series.
Another young gun making headlines was France's Noa Dupouy. Noa came out of the woods in Biscarrosse with a fifth place result and is trying to back it up now in Portugal. Today he turned what originally looked like a dreadful start into a big win with two solid scores and a spot into Round Three.
"I had a somewhat shaky start as I fell on my first wave, but I got a decent wave quickly after that," Noa explained. "I was in third then and needed a score, that's when I got the first left. Without priority I tried an air and got my 7, so I sat and waited for another good wave to get my 6 later on. I'm only young so there's really no pressure for me to do well and I'm having a lot of fun."
When the tide came up and what was left of a previous little swell died, the event went on hold again for a long break before resuming with a new push on the outgoing tide. The men's round was completed and the women got their turn to shine, running double banks to capitalize on the last few hours of daylight.
And how better would you launch the show than with Portuguese superstar Teresa Bonvalot in heat 1! Early rounds at a Pro Junior are pretty much a walk in the park for the Cascais surfer who's surfed the CT in her home town several times, but Teresa kept her very professional approach and easily advanced into Round Three.
"Luckily waves came up a bit bigger tonight, but conditions still weren't easy," Bonvalot admitted. "My goal is always to surf as well as I can and have fun doing it, I try to keep all the rankings calculations off my mind. I achieved my goal last year by winning the title and of course I'd like to win it again, but it's not as important the second time. I'll focus on the World Junior finals in Kiama in my last season as a juniors. I feel like I surf as good as ever, I train a lot and hopefully I can have a big result there and improve on my 5th place."
Neis Lartigue placed third in Espinho last year, which to date is her best result. Today she absolutely killed the competition, with a near-perfect 9.33 for two big turns on a super fun right-hander. If she can keep her rhythm going, which has been an issue of the past, she's heading towards the finals again this time around!
"There were some fun waves on that North podium and I was lucky to found a great right that opened up a little, where I got that 9," she said. "I'm not super happy with my start of the season, I've had good heats in the first rounds and was unable to continue, so I hope I can get a little consistency going in this one and make more rounds."
A similar call will see men reconvene at 6:30 a.m Saturday for a potential big day and multiple rounds of competition before the finals on Sunday. Women will join a little later on for a 9:30 a.m call.
Check out all the photos, videos and updates right here as the event approaches.
Neis Lartigue
Reef break lights up for second day of action.
Competition surged through opening round action of the women's Florida Pro QS 3,000 with some surprising performances.
European Junior title frontrunners Becret, Mignot, Lartigue and Erostarbe bring it down to the wire
Check out a selection of images from last year's event in Morocco.
Marco Mignot and Neis Lartigue come out victorious from a tricky finals day at the Junior Pro Sopela.
Junior Pro Espinho
The Junior Pro Espinho culminates with great conditions to crown Teresa Bonvalot and Marco Mignot as the event champions.
Finals day unfolds in excellent waves and crowns two future stars of professional surfing.
Top seeds suffer shock eliminations on Day 3 of Junior Pro Espinho, opening doors to new talent ahead of exciting finals day.
Small waves, double banks, but we now have quarter and semifinalists lined up for the finals on Sunday!
In continued small surf, conditions favor light and fast surfers as youngsters take over proceedings in Round 2 of the Junior Pro Espinho.