Bianca Buitendag remains the biggest standout during Round 1 of Bréti Girls Pro Junior
South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag and France’s Josephine Costes successfully made it through the opening round (Round of 20) of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 1-Star Bréti Girls Pro Junior that went down at the secondary venue of Les Dunes
in Brétignolles-sur-Mer, France, on Tuesday, April 17.
The conditions prevailing at the event site turned out to be pretty challenging, keeping the young female surfers from digging deep into the arsenal of tricks, much to the dismay of the crowd.
Despite the roughness of the waves, the 18-year-old Buitendag came up with the most impressive performance of the round while facing France’s Manon Jambou and Spain’s Marina Lopez in the first heat of Round 1.
The South African talent navigated her way towards a couple of relatively juicy waves to unload a series if quick and stylish turns. The determination and persistence of Buitendag eventually carried her off to victory as she finished off with a heat-total
of 12.83 points.
Lopez finished behind her South African rival in second place despite failing to find her rhythm during the course of the battle. Much to her luck, the third surfer in the heat Jambou had no luck with the waves either and only managed to get to a heat-total
of 2.60 points, allowing Lopez to claim runner-up place with a heat-total of 3.50 points. The second-place finish added the Spanish surfer to the Quarter-final line-up.
Pitted against France’s Amaia Billecoq and Basque County’s Noa Iturripea in the third heat, Costes managed to successfully advance through into the next stage of the competition as well by getting to a heat-total of 7.66 points. The score proved to be wall
too high to climb for her rivals due to the demanding surfing conditions.
Iturripea made her way into the next round after taking first runner-up position with a two-wave total of 6.07 points, while Billecoq was eliminated from the competition after finishing in third place with a heat-total of 2.66 points.
The second and fourth heat of Round 1 finished without any contest, sending Basque County’s Ariane Ochoa, France’s Mathilde Gomez, Spain’s Erika Franco and her compatriot Yolanda Aneiros into the Quarter-finals.
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