It’s official! Two years after first qualifying for the WCT World Championship Tour (since renamed the ASP World Tour), French surfer and 2007 European Open Champion, Miky PICON, is set to retake his place among the world elite of men’s surfing next year.

It means that for the first time, France will have two representatives in the Top 44 in 2008 – Jérémy Florès and Miky Picon, both members of Team Quiksilver.

Miky Picon’s qualification takes the number of Europeans competing in next year’s ASP World Tour to four – an all-time record – as the Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu (Team Quiksilver) and Portuguese Tiago Pires have also claimed their tickets to the elite competition.

France’s top surfer for over a decade, Miky Picon, 28, is now (as of last night, from Shaun Cansdell at Sunset, during the last event of the WQS Championship currently drawing to a finish in Hawaii) guaranteed a place back in the Top 44 in 2008.

The surfer from Capbreton, born in Casablanca in Morocco, has already managed the feat before, back in 2006. Back then, unfortunately, his isolated status as the only European on a particularly harsh tour meant he was unable to extend his stay beyond a year.

But with plenty of grit and determination, after a solid season in a hotly contested WQS tour, the Frenchman is now ready to rejoin the best surfers on the planet.

With some handy advantages under his belt: a wealth of experience and the support of his friend Jérémy Florès, alongside whom he will be competing next season.