THREE of Jersey’s best surfing talents are in Brazil for the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, with the opening ceremony set for tomorrow.
Owen Graham, Olly Gould and Anders Ravenscroft have journeyed to Rio de Janeiro to represent The Channel Island Surfing Federation, under the watchful eye of head coach Jake Powell.
The Caesareans will face a selection of the world’s junior surfing elite from 44 different nations at Macumba Beach, all vying for gold.
In preparation, the trio travelled to Portugal with Powell, prior to competing in the prestigious British Cup in Cornwall last month.
The event served as a great learning experience for Jersey’s fledgling surfers, where Gould and Graham ultimately failed to progress from round one, while Ravenscroft was eliminated in the quarter finals by another Caesarean in the shape of Max Bennett.
Such is the stature of World Junior Surfing Championship (WJSC), it has historically proved a direct pathway to the Olympic Games.
From 40 surfers who took part in Tokyo 2020, 33 had previously participated in the WJSC. Of those, 16 had claimed ISA World Junior medals.
Speaking on the event, president of the International Surfing Association, Fernando Aguerre said: “There is no better way to see the vision of the ISA for a better world through surfing achieved than through the youth.
“They are our future world champions, future Olympians, future gold medallists. The values learned through events like this will affect generations to come.”
Weather depending, the competition will get under way in Brazil tomorrow, following the conclusion of the opening ceremony.
For Powell, who was appointed to the CISF coaching team earlier this year, Rio will provide a great opportunity to observe his young surfers on the biggest of stages.
The championship is set to run through to 3 December.
