BARBADOS finished a fairly satisfactory 23rd with 2 470 points at the recent 2016 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Sao Miguel, Azores, where France made history by winning the overall title for the first time.
France ended with 6 725 points, forcing Australia, who amassed 6 595 points, to settle for second place.
Hawaii copped third place with 5 935 points among the 39 countries, the largest participation at the championships.
Despite their position, the Barbadian surfers, whose gear was sponsored by RVCA, Ganzee and Lynch Brokers, received positive reviews from the media, generating a great exposure for Barbados.
The surfers experienced generally tough conditions over the nine days of competition with waves ranging from two to 10 feet.
These conditions were probably the most difficult in the history of the World Junior Championships mainly due to the lack of a channel for the surfers to paddle from the beach to the line-up where the waves break.
Competing among the Under-16 Boys where there were 131 entries, Zander Venezia was the highest placed Barbadian, finishing 19th. Jacob Burke was 73rd while Yuri Scutt and Caleb Rapson ended in joint 91st position.
The Under-16 girls featured 45 competitors with Olivia Warden and Giselle Allan finishing 25th and 41st respectively.
None of the Under-18 boys cracked the top 60 among the 128 competitors who took to the water as Kai Bourne was 65th, followed by Andrew Gill (81st), Axe Garrett (97th) and Andrew Rose (113th).
Roma Bellori and Gabriella Gittens finished 33rd and 41st, respectively, among the 61 competitors in the Under-18 women’s category. (EZS)
