AUSTRALIA WINS BIG AT THE 2007 QUIKSILVER ISA WORLD JUNIOR SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS
GARRETT PARKES, SALLY FITZGIBBONS, JADSON ANDRE AND TEAM AUSTRALIA CROWNED WORLD CHAMPIONS IN PORTUGAL
In a thrilling day for junior surfing, team Australia and two of its young stars took home gold medals on the final day of the 2007 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Costa de Caparica, Portugal.
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons and Garrett Parkes are the new Quiksilver ISA World Junior Champions in the Girls Under 18 division and the Boys Under 16’s respectively, while their squad blew away the competition to take a second consecutive Team World Championship. Brazil’s Jadson André scored the gold in the Under 18 Boys and led his nation to a silver in the overall team race.
The final day offered solid 3-5 foot (1-1.5 meter) waves – the best surf of the 8 day event - and each final featured spectacular showdowns at this, the “Junior Olympics of Surfing”.
For the first time in surfing’s history, the ISA judging panel included 8 judges. During the final two days of competition, all 8 logged in scores with the top and two lowest scores being dropped. The feedback for this innovation was entirely positive.
André, like all three individual winners, powered through the repechage rounds to make it to the final. He took an early lead with huge turns in the powerful waves and outlasted fellow finalists Chris Friend (Australia), Charlie Brown (Brazil) and Cory Arrambide (USA). André was in strong form throughout the event and his self assurance never wavered. “I’m very happy because when I traveled to Portugal I told my family I was going to win,” said Andre. “This was not easy and the fact that I got put into the repechage did not affect my confidence. I knew I couldn’t hesitate and everything went right.”
Parkes, an electrifying fair haired surfer that viewers online compared to Mick Fanning, was at his absolute best in the final of the Under 16 Boys. He locked in the highest single wave score of all of the finals (9.6 out of 10) where he did a series of vertical turns followed by an aerial reverse in the shorebreak.
“I’m over the moon, just frothing,” said Parkes. Parkes’s father in Australia recently suffered a stroke and the win was an emotional one. “I dedicate my win to my Dad who was watching my heats on the webcast. He’s the man,” he said.
Parkes finished ahead of silver medalist and fellow Mini Gun (of the Quiksilver’s upcoming DVD Young Guns 3) Tahitian Tamoroa McComb, while New Zealand’s Matt Hewitt and Australia’s Davey Cathels won bronze and copper.
Fitzgibbons avenged her last second defeat at last year’s event in Maresias, Brazil (she got silver then), by dominating the final of the Under 18 Girls this time around. The silky smooth surfer admitted that her disappointment in Brazil was a motivating factor in her win. “Last year I was winning but then went down in the last 20 seconds of the event,” Fitzgibbons said. “It was a devastating loss, but it made me focus on surfing to the best of my ability this year. The level of girls surfing has been so high here and it made me lift my performance.”
Fitzgibbons finished ahead silver medalist and teammate, Laura Enever while Sage Erickson (USA) Paige Hareb (New Zealand) took the bronze and copper.
Australia saw five of its surfers make the finals today and the team ran away with the team title for the second consecutive year. Australia’s coach and 1994 ISA world champ, Sasha Stocker, was proud of his young surfers. “Our team has worked very hard for this and I’m very happy with with our victory because all of the teams surfed so well.”
Brazil won the team silver followed by Hawaii’s bronze and New Zealand’s copper.
Hawaii won the ISA Aloha Cup tag team contest followed by Australia, France and South África.
In addition to their gold medals, André and Fitzgibbons also received coveted spots in the trials for the 2007 Quiksilver Pro France, the 2008 Pro Australia and the 2007 Roxy Pro Hawaii and 2008 Roxy Pro Australia where they will have a chance to surf against the likes of Kelly Slater, Andy Irons, Chelsea Hedges and Stephanie Gilmore. Parkes win earned him 2500 dollars in credit towards entry fees of ASP events.
The entire event was notable for its exuberance and vitality and the sentiment on the beach was that this was the best ever event in the history of junior surfing. Each team enthusiastically waved their nations’ colorful flags on the beach for each heat and, by the end, many surfers were seen in the uniforms of other teams – evidence of the strong friendships forged here.
Adding to the positive vibes, the host team of Portugal also donated a surfboard to a competitor from Morocco, Amine El Jaffy, who could not afford one, and came to Portugal without competition equipment.
ISA President Fernando Aguerre awarded the surfers their medals in the event’s closing ceremony. He was ecstatic about the success of this international event where everyone involved shared the ISA spirit of working together for a better world.
“Congratulations to all the competitors and teams for all their efforts in Portugal,” said Aguerre.
“The participants and judges did an excellent job. I would also like to thank Quiksilver for its strong support of junior surfing and the Caparica Surfing Club for its help in hosting the event. With great pleasure I announce we will be back in Portugal in October 2008 for the ISA World Games.”
The location of the 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships has not yet been chosen but Aguerre revealed locations in France, Costa Rica and Ecuador are all in the running, with the final decision to be announced by June 15, 2007.
See the full results of the event along with video and photo highlights at:
www.isasurf.org and
www.quiksilver.com/isa
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