Veteran and established Championship Tour (CT) surfing competitors have cause for concern after the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach CT event revealed a wave of new young talent.
The event, which concluded on Friday (Saturday Australian time), saw wildcard and local North Shore hero Barron Mamiya take the trophy in the men’s division, and while the women’s final was taken out by the more experienced Brisa Hennessy from Costa Rica, a host young rookies made the quarter and semi-finals.
Mamiya, who finished 11th in the Billabong Pro Pipeline after being eliminated by eventual winner Kelly Slater, went up a notch for the Sunset event, demonstrating he’s the whole package, with a great rail game to back up his world-class barrel riding.
In his semi-final against Brazilian Caio Ibelli, Mamiya came from behind, capitalising on a small wave that the Brazilian should have taken with priority and only a minute to go, but left for him. Mamiya milked the wave for all it was worth, surpassing Ibelli’s score and earning a berth in the final.
Then, coming up against veteran CT surfer and Olympic silver medalist Kanoa Igarashi in the final, Mamiya brought out his peak performance of the event, taking down the in-form Japanese surfer 17.00 to 12.33.
American Jake Marshall, who is also new to the CT, proved he can also match it with the big guns, showing consistent form to finish fifth in the event.
Meanwhile, the women’s final saw Brissa Hennessy of Costa Rica defeat veteran CT surfer Hawaiian Malia Manuel.
Hennessy made history, as she is the first ever Costa Rican to win a CT event.
However, Hennessy, Manuel, and other seasoned CT competitors had to contend with a host of talented rookies threatening to eliminate them.
Hawaiian 19-year-old Gabriela Bryan, who had to take the route of the elimination round, went on to beat seven-time world champ Stephanie Gilmore in the round of 16, later defeating fellow Hawaiian and in-form rookie, Luana Silva, to book a semi-final spot.
In the round of 16, Silva herself had just eliminated Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb, who finished runner-up to Carissa Moore in the 2021 CT finals.
The other rookie to make the semi-finals was 16-year-old Bettylou Sakura Johnson, who showed great technique and a mature attitude to score consistently high throughout the event.
Then there are the two Aussie rookies Molly Picklum and India Robinson, who both made the quarter-finals, the former defeating world champ Carissa Moore in the round of 16.
This also comes after rookie and wildcard Moana Jones Wong of Hawaii recently took out the first CT event at Pipeline.
These young rising stars are certainly giving the tour a shake-up, and it will be interesting to see if their form continues heading into event three in Portugal, the MEO Pro at Supertubos in Peniche.
The event window for that event is from March 3 to 13.
