Kai Woolf (Jeffreys Bay) delivered the best result for South Africa. Never out of the top two in her three heats in the U16 Girls Main Event, Woolf reached the quarter-finals before placing third, ending her campaign at the world’s biggest junior surfing event in equal ninth place in the division and contributing 500 points to the team total.
Adin Masencamp (Strand), who had produced two of the highest scores of the event – a magnificent 9.07 in his Round 4 heat win and an 8.67 during the Aloha Cup event – also reached the quarter-finals of the U18 Boys division where he placed fourth and was eliminated in equal 13th place overall with 450 team points.
Competing in the biggest division of the event, the U16 Boys, Sebastian Williams (Durban), posted double-digit heat totals in the four rounds he contested before being ousted in Round 5, where he finished within half a point of a berth in the quarters. Williams placed 13th in the division.
Yesterday’s results saw South Africa drop to 12th in the provisional team rankings. They have a chance of moving up one place to 11th if Peru’s last remaining surfer does not qualify for the U18 Boys Final.
The team from France, who have been close to claiming the coveted ISA World Junior team title for the past couple of years, has the chance to make history with their first team gold medal in the Azores. With five team members still in contention, France tops the rankings going into the final day of competition, followed by Australia and Hawaii, who each have four contenders, Japan with two and the USA with three.
The semi-finals and finals in all four divisions will be run today (Sunday) with the top four surfers in each division and the top four teams awarded gold, silver, bronze and copper medals.
