16-year-old European Quiksilver Team Rider Nicolau von Rupp won the Ericeira Surf Shop B! Pro at Ilhavo, Portugal.
The young rider triumphed over Leo Belime, Cesar Rosa and Frederico Morais in difficult conditions, scoring an 8.5 – the highest score during the two day event (21st – 22nd April.)
Technical problems with the registration process meant that Nicolau entered the event unseeded and had to ride in all five heats to qualify.
“Five heats in such a short time made me tired,” he said. “In the final my adrenalin was high and it helped that my first wave was the 8.5.”
With time spent training in Hawaii and encouraging competition results in Australia Von Rupp was confident that this comp would be a suitable warm up for the forthcoming Quiksilver Junior championship but a victory means a lot to him.
“I‘ll use the excellent results and momentum from these competitions to prepare for the upcoming World championship and maybe one day I’ll make the Final in the ASP WQS Rip Curl Men’s Open.”
Nicolau was also pleased to give his support to a worthy surfing cause, becoming a member of the environmentally active Surfrider Foundation.
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