Reigning European Junior Champion Leonardo Fioravanti continues his WQS roll with a win at the ASP 3-Star Pantin Classic Galicia Pro in clean 3-to-4-foot surf over Uruguay’s Marco Giorgi.

The young Italian surfer was unstoppable during the final day of competition, starting his road to the final with the only perfect 10-point ride awarded throughout the contest, for a succession of huge under-the-lip turns on a solid lefthander.

“It feels unbelievable right now, it was such a good contest!” an ecstatic Fioravanti said. “I’m still 16, I’m surfing heats with absolutely no pressure on the QS and it seems to be working out. Today’s my mom’s birthday and I’m so stoked to give her that present, this is the best day of my life for sure.”

Just two weeks after his runner-up finish at the ASP 5-Star Soöruz Lacanau Pro, Fioravanti took a strong command of the final and never let go of the lead. With a firm grasp on the regional rankings, the reigning European Junior Champion will look to consolidate his position while disputing the upcoming two ASP Prime events in Portugal.

“My main goal right now is the World Juniors, I want to do good there,” Fioravanti continued. “I’m going to train hard and keep my confidence levels up and see how I can go there. But yeah going to another event right now in Azores with all that momentum I hope I can keep surfing like this and win a few more heats.”

In addition to the $8,000 prizemoney cheque, Fioravanti received a flight ticket to any of over 200 destinations worldwide, generously offered by Turkish Airlines, one of the main sponsors of the event. While Silvana Lima, winner of the ASP 6-Star women’s event stated Hawaii as her primary destination, Fioravanti said “I’ll have to think about it a little bit, but Indonesia seems like an obvious choice for me right now”.

Uruguay’s Marco Giorgi surpassed the all South-American side of the draw, eliminating consecutively Alex Ribeiro in the quarters and Santiago Muniz in the semis. Coming off another runner-up finish in Arica, Chile in early August, Giorgi built further momentum in Galicia.

“It feels great, I feel like I surfed well throughout the event,” Giorgi said. “The final didn’t happen for me but I’m still super happy, congrats to Leo he’s been surfing amazing and really impressed me. I’m thankful for all the support I received this week from people at home in Uruguay and Brazil as well where I have many friends.”

Other young world tour promise Kanoa Igarashi also competed in Pantin, losing to his fellow travelling partner Fioravanti in the final minutes of their semi final heat. But the young Californian was still satisfied with his equal third and career best QS result.

“It’s the furthest I’ve ever been in a QS so definitely a good result for me and also a great warm-up for the upcoming events,” Igarashi said. “I got into the primes in the mid-year re-seed so I’m going to go to Azores next week, to get a little bit of experience, have some fun and get a couple waves over there.”

Stay tuned for plenty more high performance European ‘QS action this week from the Azores.

PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S FINAL RESULTS:

1 – Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 14.16
2 – Marco Giorgi (URY) 6.30

PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S SEMIFINALS RESULTS:

SF 1: Marco Giorgi (URY) 15.57 def. Santiago Muniz (ARG) 10.33
SF 2: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 17.27 def. Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 13.90

PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:

QF 1: Santiago Muniz (ARG) 14.00 def. Adrien Toyon (FRA) 10.06
QF 2: Marco Giorgi (URY) 16.50 def. Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 13.90
QF 3: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 17.17 def. Bino Lopes (BRA) 13.43
QF 4: Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 13.77 def. Diego Mignot (FRA) 12.00