MAKE THAT ANOTHER podium finish for Chelsea Tuach.
Barbados’ best continues to prove she is among the world’s elite surfers after finishing third overall in the women’s category of the HD World Junior Championships in Brazil yesterday.
Competing at Joaquina Beach in Florianopolis, the 17-year-old Tuach easily advanced out of the opening round with a score of 13.50 before stunning ASP Women’s WCT surfer Bianca Buitendag in their quarter-final showdown.
“I really wasn’t expecting anything going in to that quarter-final with Bianca and I knew I had to surf as well as I could,” Tuach said.
“The waves kind of just came to me.”
However, Tuach, the Women’s ASP North America Pro Junior Series champion, couldn’t replicate that form in the semi-final which she lost against Tatian Weston-Webb of Hawaii 15.34 to 8.33.
Weston-Webb went on to lose the final to 18-year-old Ella Williams of New Zealand.
The third-place finish solidifies Tuach’s position in the round of 60 for the ASP 6-Star Women’s Qualifying events for 2014, when she will be intensifying her training programme in hopes of yet another successful season.
“This year I was focusing on the Pro Juniors and my goal was just to make it here,” Tuach said.
“To make it this far is really great. I’m going to train hard and do as many events as possible and see how I do.” (JM)
