ROXY OPEN
Mikaela Greene (AUS), 23, upset the defending event champion and her compatriot Claire Bevilacqua in their semifinal matchup as she belted her ticket for the final. Former World Junior Champion Ella Williams took out the second semi against Josefina Ane (ARG) to join Greene.
Photo: Ella Williams © Sharpy
In a wave-starved final, both surfers built their scoreboard on mediocre waves at first, before finding better opportunities through the second half of the matchup. Eventually it was Williams who found the best scoring rides in a really difficult lineup at low tide and walked away with the win.
Williams claimed her first event win of the season and a much deserved break from a string of average results. The Kiwi surfer has been consistently placing in the Top 30 on the Qualifying Series and will need to build momentum from her Newquay win and transpose her good form on the bigger events coming right up.
“It’s such a great feeling to win an event again, I’m so excited!” Williams said. “This has been my toughest season ever so far so it’s nice to finally get back in rhythm. Winning an event makes the place all the more special and I’m excited to go back to Lacanau just like I’ll be excited to come back here next year. My mom and dad take turns travelling with me and I really like having their support, it’s really tough doing it on your own.”
Photo: Ella Williams © Sharpy
Photo: Mikaela Greene © Sharpy
Mikaela Greene placed runner-up for the second time in 2017 and adds yet another great result to her season tally. Unfortunately the young Aussie’s best finishes have only been in smaller-scale events so far and she’ll need to step her game up in the QS6,000 where the big points are.
“Ella is a really tough competitor and if it was going to be anybody to lose to I’m glad I lost to her today,” Greene admitted. “Every heat is a learning curve and I definitely took away a lot from that heat. I’m pretty happy with my performance and I definitely hope I can get that first place before the end of the season. It gives you a lot of confidence when you have a good result behind you and I hope I can follow through in the next few events. This place has that real English vibe and it’s been a great experience for my first time in Newquay.”
Jeep Longboard Event
Photo: Justine Dupont © Sharpy
Justine Dupont (FRA), 25, has claimed the Women’s Longboard title at Boardmasters in one-to-two foot surf at North Fistral. Longboarders took it to the lineup at 9 a.m with their quarterfinals, culminating with the finals early this afternoon in front of large crowds once again.
In the women’s final both surfers kept extremely busy right from the buzzer, and Dupont got off to a slightly better start than Steinriede with two medium scores on the board.
Things got interesting at the halfway mark with both surfers dropping an excellent score to tighten the race for the Boardmasters title. Dupont quickly backed it up with another good wave to distance herself from Steinriede a little bit more.
Eventually her lead was enough and the multi-talented French rider walked away with the Boardmasters, Jeep Women’s Longboard title at Fistral. This result rocketed her up to second on the European rankings, giving her the opportunity to qualify for the World Longboard Championships next season.
“I am so stoked to be able to do the World Longboard Championships next season again,” Dupont said. “My former sponsor kept me from doing them these last few years and I really missed it. It’s a different brand of surfing that I really enjoy, you can play with your board as much as you play with the waves and it makes it really exciting, even in small waves.”
Photo: Steinriede © Sharpy
A former World Champion, Steinriede had the best single score of the final but came up just short of finding the necessary backup to overtake Dupont. This second place marks the American’s best result so far this season.
“I was happy to make the final, Alice has been surfing great and I was stoked to get that win in the semis,” Steinriede said. “Congrats to Justine, she came back to the longboard and it’s cool to see. I loved coming here, it’s beautiful when the sun comes out. I’m also a huge dance fan, so we paid a little visit to the music festival and it was great fun!”
Photo: Justine Dupont celebrates © Sharpy
Alice Lemoigne (REU), 20, failed to advance through her semifinal matchup with Steinriede, but her consistency was enough to clinch her fourth European Women’s Longboard title. The Reunion Island surfer won the opening event in Caparica and placed equal third in Gaia and today, to secure the coveted regional crown.
Lemoigne also placed equal fifth in the opening event of the World Longboard Championship in Papua New Guinea earlier this year and has set her eyes on the final event in Taiwan to try to belt an international win.
“I’m really really happy to keep the European title again this year,” Lemoigne said. “I work really hard to improve my surfing and fitness so that’s a testament that all these efforts pay. Winning the title once is one thing but to defend it is really much harder.”
“I surf a lot and analyze videos with my coach Vincent Guelfi,” she continued. “That plus some work on balance, stretching and basically everything that can help get better and stronger. I need to improve on heat strategy as well, I lost my priority on a bad call in that heat and I feel like this cost me the win.”
Results
Boardmasters Roxy Open new European QS Top 5 is as follows:
WOMEN:
1 – Carol Henrique (PRT)
2 – Justine Dupont (FRA)
3 – Camilla Kemp (PRT)
4 – Peony Knight (GBR)
5 – Garazi Sanchez-Ortun (EUK)
BOARDMASTERS, ROXY OPEN FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Ella Williams (NZL) 11.90
2 – Mikaela Greene (AUS) 9.57
BOARDMASTERS, ROXY OPEN SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Mikaela Greene (AUS) 13.83 def. Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 12.60
SF 2: Ella Williams (NZL) 10.46 def. Josefina Ane (ARG) 9.96
BOARDMASTERS, ROXY OPEN QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 13.10 def. Justine Dupont (FRA) 10.54
QF 2: Mikaela Greene (AUS) 10.83 def. Vahine Fierro (PYF) 10.10
QF 3: Ella Williams (NZL) 12.73 def. Ren Hashimoto (JPN) 8.97
QF 4: Josefina Ane (ARG) 11.40 def. Lee-Ann Curren (FRA) 8.26
With Boardmasters, Jeep Men & Women Longboard completed today, the European LQS rankings are final with Top 5 as follows:
WOMEN:
1 – Alice Lemoigne (REU) *** European Longboard Champion***
2 – Justine Dupont (FRA)
3 – Emily Currie (GBR)
4 – Kathleen Barrigao (PRT)
5 – Francesca Rubegni (ITA)
BOARDMASTERS, JEEP WOMEN’S LONGBOARD FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Justine Dupont (FRA) 14.73
2 – Lindsay Steinriede (USA) 11.67
BOARDMASTERS, JEEP WOMEN’S LONGBOARD SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Lindsay Steinriede (USA) 15.67 def. Alice Lemoigne (REU) 12.67
SF 2: Justine Dupont (FRA) 13.63 def. Rachael Tilly (USA) 11.83
Boardmasters are supported by Corona, Monster Energy, Cornish Orchards, VISA, Samsung, Quiksilver, Roxy, Carve Surfing Magazine, Surfgirl, Radio X and DJ Mag among others, with MagicSeaWeed.com as official forecaster.
