by Greg
13. October 2011 05:21
This last week has seen the best juniors in the world light up the surfing stage with some impressive performances. Gabriel Mendina has won his first World Tour event at a tender age of 17, and although he should have still been competing in the Oakley World Pro Junior, he qualified for the World Tour 2 months ago and decided to take down 10 times World Champion Kelly Slater instead at the Quiksilver Pro France!
Mendina took out Kelly in the Quarter finals of the event, then went on to take out Jordy Smith in the semis, followed by another new school sensation, Julian Wilson in the final. If this is not sending out warning signals then I don’t know what is as the young Brazilian blasted his way to the win with a few nine point rides and even a perfect 10 thrown into the mix on his way to the win in the high performance 3-4 foot waves. If you don’t know too much about Gabriel Mendina, know this, he WILL win more than 1 World Title!
On the other side of the World, in Bali, I had the pleasure of commentating the Oakley World Pro Junior. The surfing was impressive as I watched the future stars take to the water. Australian Davey Cathels won the event over California’s Andrew Doheny in what was one of the best final I have ever watched! The boys blasted 8 point plus rides throughout the final going blow for blow in the great 4 foot waves of Canngu, with Cathels being the deserved winner!
South Africans in the event were looking strong until a bit of bad luck set in on Bad South Africa day, and they all went down as did the Springboks on Sunday 9 October!