The Ericeira WSL Junior Championships runs from 4 – 13 January 2016 in the high-performance right-hand point breaks of Ericeira in Portugal and hosts the top ranked junior surfers from the seven WSL regions of North America, South America, Japan, Europe, Africa, Australasia and Hawaii in the 48-man and 18-woman fields.
Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay), the WSL Africa Junior champion and also the highest ranked SA junior on the WSL Qualifying Series (QS) at No. 157, finished equal 17th in the corresponding event in 2014 and is anticipating a better result in the final junior event of his career.
“I’m really looking forward to surfing in the World Junior Champs at Ericeira,” said Lightfoot. “It’s an incredible wave and I feel it suits my style of surfing being a right hand point break.”
Lightfoot will be joined in the men’s draw by compatriots Shane Sykes (Salt Rock), Adin Masencamp (Strand), Jordan Maree (Kalk Bay), Matt McGillivray (Jeffreys Bay) and Bevan Willis (Durban). Nicole Pallet (La Lucia), the WSL Africa Women’s Junior champion and runner-up Gina Smith (Jeffreys Bay) are the two South African girls who qualified for the event.
