Recently in Athletes Category
Story By Ben Mondy“I’m going to sleep well tonight,” Michel Bourez is sitting on top of a Dhoni, a traditional Maldivian boat, and the transport equivalent of a truck in these parts. “I’ve tried to just two hours a day surfing, but I must have done at least four hours today, the surf was too good.”
We were chugging along a glassy Indian Ocean on the roof of the Dhoni, under a molten pink tinged sky, five minutes before dusk, heading back to the Teate, a sweet boat, Maldives Red Bull Rising HQ and our home for the week.
It had been another epic freesurfing session, as Michel was joined by Tim Boal, Clint Kimmins and Gavin Gillette, in a tune up session for their heats in the Sri Lankan Airways Pro, a six star WQS event being held in the turquoise waters, tropical heat and ruler edged reefs of the Maldives.
Continue reading Red Bull Rising: Live From The Maldives.
Story By Cassio CortesBrazilian Peterson Crisanto defeated Tahitian Tamaroa McComb twice during the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship’s Under 16 competition on his way to the grand final, but unfortunately for the Red Bull athlete, the Tahitian picked up his top form in the final heat, and won in a very tight final.
Tamaroa began with an 8.10 that slotted him into first place. Peterson scored a lesser 6.20. A few minutes later, the Tahitian scored a near-perfect 9.10 after having executed a huge off-the-lip, followed by five big maneuvers that took him all the way to the beach. Not to be defeated, the Brazilian then scored a high but insufficient 7.54, which left him searching for a very difficult 9.66.
Crisanto very nearly got the score when he pulled off two stylish roundhouse cutbacks, a tailslide 360 and two off-the-lips onto the sand, which gave the Brazilian a 9.62, just 0.04 below what he required. With this score, he needed precisely 7.92, which unfortunately he never quite found. Still, it was a career-best result for Crisanto.
Boys Under 16 ISA World Junior Championships Results
Gold: Tamaroa McComb (TAH)
Silver: Peterson Crisanto (BRA)
Bronze: Matty Costa (HAW)
Copper: Ian Fontaine (FRA)
Story Courtesy Jamie Sterling“There haven’t been this many soldiers flailing in the surf since the invasion of Normandy.” The veteran looked a lot like Sergeant Rock. He was big and tough and had a giant tattoo on his back and when you looked up from the tattoo you couldn’t help but see a giant, jagged canyon of a scar that started at the base of his neck, went straight up the back of his shaved skull and then branched off to the left. There was a bad story behind that scar, but the veteran was trying to leave that story behind.
Continue reading OPERATION HEALTHY VETERANS: Operation Amped Storms the Beaches of Zuma .
The young new-school talent of Julian Wilson prevailed in the third
edition of The O’Neill Mission. The edited video he put together of his
highlights of the week to be judged, featured endless aerials, 360s,
and even included a new-school rap soundtrack. “I’m so blown away right now,” Julian said. “It’s been such a good week. We have made the best out of all the conditions we faced in France. I want to thank O’Neill for putting on such a good event.”
Continue reading For Julian Wilson, One Good Turn Deserves Another .
After a blistering performance at the 2008 NSSA Western Championships, an event in which he won both the Open Men's and Junior division in classic south swell conditions at the famed Huntington Beach, Kolohe "Brother" Andino is now setting his sights on the international arena. Departing today, along with the rest of the USA Surf Team, for the 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Hossegor, France, Brother's already proven to be a key player on the squad, and if his recent results are any indication of things to come, the rest of the world better check themselves. The dynamic 15-year-old already has more national titles than his mantle can hold, but bringing home the gold for America would be especially sweet. "It would cool to win a gold medal," he remarked at the team's send-off luncheon earlier this week. "It's one thing to win for yourself, it's another represent your country and be part of a team. This might be the best team America's had in a long time, and I'm proud just to be part of it." Stay tuned, the contest gets underway on May 24th, we'll keep you updated.
It's not easy being the face of South American surfing, but Sofia's pulling it off. A series of May issue magazine covers and newspaper stories feature the 2004 world champ as not only an ambassador for surfing in Latin American, but also the new face of its youth culture. The current world leader on the women’s World Championship Tour is using the time off between WCT events to train in her native Peru, travel with friends and as evident in the recent coverage, handle interview and photo requests.This month Mulanovich graces the cover of LA’s Tu Ciudad, is featured heavily in Sunday’s New York Times’ travel feature on Peru and will be the cover model for Ocean Drive Español this summer.
“It feels good to not only represent surfing, but also my country,” says Sofia. “These articles are encouraging because they show the youth how to be healthy, have fun and try new things, while giving the general public more reasons to check out Latin America and especially Peru.”
From Sofia's Blog: The past few months I have been traveling to competitions, juggling media appearances and training. I have to admit, sometimes it is hard to fly 14 hours after a competition then get on another plane and participate in photo shoots. Thank god for business class and upgrades. But the cool part is what comes out of the photo shoots and interviews...read the rest of Sofia's blog.
Julian Wilson has once again proved you most certainly can believe the hype, as yesterday he broke through for his first
win of 2008. Crushing 128 of the Australia's best U/20 surfers at D-Bah, Julian showed up at the Brothers Neilsen Pro Junior and did what he does best...surf better than everybody else. Living up to his reputation as one of the world’s most electrifying
performers the 18 year-old was in sizzling form from his opening ride
in the small but perfect right-hand waves.
Continue reading Julian Reigns at Brothers Neilsen Pro.
Jamie O’Brien has done it again. The 2006 Pipeline Master has added another prestigious title
to his list of achievements by winning the Air Tahiti Nui – Von Zipper
Trials in heaving 6-8ft slabs at Teahupoo in Tahiti. In the precurser to the Billabong Pro, he
defeated talented Brazilian goofy footer Bruno Santos in an epic final
that saw the Hawaiian steal the lead in the dying minute with a perfect
ten point ride. He was the standout performer of the day,
scoring two 10-point rides on the way to the final and a near perfect
19.93 out of 20.00 in his Quarter Final.And if that wasn't enough, the swell only got bigger, and as you can see by the photos, there were some especially heavy moments.
Get Your own 10-point ride Inside Tahiti right here.
Think Jamie's nuts? Check out Red Bull USA to meet all the other lunatics.
Looking forward to the madness that is the Billabong Pro Teahupoo, the Red Bull crew is more than eager to get their feet wet in the South Pacific. Timmy Patterson recently finished a brand new tow-board for Andy Irons with the intention of getting Andy into “some mean ones.” At the time Andy was enjoying a brief respite in mainland Mexico, and after the respite, he’s more than ready to throw himself into the fray. Bruce on the other hand has been enjoying his down days in Bali, surfing and filming for one movie part or another. Will he be ready for Tahiti? As long as it’s pumping, count on it.And what about our defending world champ and runner-up in Tahiti in 2007? Well, old Mick Fanning's more than a month into his marriage and life is good. With wedding madness behind him he's been back on point, surfing on the Gold Coast when it's on, an enjoying the down days between Bells and Tahiti. Considering how much effort he put into Teahupoo last year, one has to figure going back this year will be a lot like riding a bike and he probably didn't forget the feeling.
Continue reading Exclusive: Billabong Pro Teahupoo Preview.
First and foremost, a huge congratulations goes out to Maya Gaberia, who last night received the Billabong Girl's Best Overall Performance Award at the Billabong XXL Awards. After her harrowing session at Teahupoo last November it's safe to say she earned it. Now that that's out of the way, after going to these big-wave hootenannies for the better part of 10
years think I’ve finally
figured out how to safely navigate this night with a bit of dignity.
Continue reading Maya Would Go...And Usually Does.
