Portugal’s Teresa Bonvalot (PRT) has long been touted as the next European female to join the elite ranks and battle for a title on the Championship Tour. Today, Bonvalot has taken a step in the right direction, taking the biggest win of her young career with a victory here at the Sydney Surf Pro Challenger Series event. The stylish goofy-footer went through the event, relatively under the radar but brought out her best performance in the Final, posting her highest two-wave combination of the event in her matchup with Nikki van Dijk (AUS). Bonvalot’s 15.83 two-wave combination was too much for van Dijk to chase down and clinch her second victory here at Manly.
“It’s so amazing to win here, I love coming to Australia and I have had good results here before the pandemic so it’s just fantastic to be back here and winning,” said Bonvalot. “It’s the biggest win of my career and to have a good Portuguese crowd here supporting me is fantastic – So good for Portugal.”
Rio Waida (IDN) has taken out the biggest win of any Indonesian in world surfing today, claiming his maiden CS win at Manly Beach. Earlier in the week, Waida was named the Wildcard for the upcoming Quiksilver Pro G-Land Championship Tour event, but his focus never moved from the task at hand, and it showed, as the Olympian put down the standout performances of the event to eventually find himself in the Final against Ryan Callinan (AUS). The Final was the true representation of the best performers of the event, with Callinan and Waida going toe-to-toe in epic beach-break conditions at Manly and Waida coming out on top with a two wave combination of 17.53 which included a near perfect 9.50 (out of a possible 10).
“I’m really happy to win but the job is not finished yet for me,” said Waida. “My goal this year is to qualify for the elite WSL Championship Tour and this is a great result but I must continue to get great results. I’m looking forward to the G-Land event at home in Indonesia which starts this weekend – My surfing ability is there to compete against the world’s best and be the best in the world. I’ve trained hard and I will continue to train and improve – It’s a great day for me and Indonesia.”