One hundred and fifty miles from the Pacific Ocean, a crop of four of the best up-and-coming surfers Quiksilver could find just had the showdown of showdowns at the WSL Surf Ranch. The winner pocketed a cool $10k – the equivalent of the bump in Instagram followers he’s likely to see.
This year’s Quiksilver Young Guns Challenge started on Instagram back in June with over 1000 entries vying for the title of world’s best grom. From there, judges Kanoa Igarashi and Leonardo Fioravanti narrowed it down to eight finalists. Then the public voted on their three favorites, and Kanoa and Leo tossed a fourth a wild card slot.
So who were the final four? Jett Schilling, 15, from San Clemente, USA, Samuel Pupo, 17, from Maresias, Brazil, Justin Becret, 16, from Seignosse, France and Marco Mignot, 17, from France but currently residing in Mexico.
At the end of the day, it was Samuel Pupo’s insane full rotation that put him over the edge for judges Kanoa and Leo.
“I’ve competed in this event for the past four years and even won it last year,” said Samuel. “It’s so much different from all the other contests. It’s always so much fun and I feel like it enables you to surf your best instead of surfing a normal heat. It’s crazy to finish my Young Guns career with a win here.”
Commit those four names above to memory. They’re not going anywhere.
