Pablo Paulino 2004 World Champion : photo ASPWorldtour/Karen 

Billabong World Junior Championships

ASP Junior Championship
North Narrabeen, Sydney, NSW, Australia
1 - 8 January 2005

The Worlds Richest Junior Surfing Event

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 5 December, 2005 : - - North Narrabeen, Sydney will be the focus of the surfing world over the New Year with forty-eight of the world’s top U/21 male and for the first time 18 of the top U/21 female surfers contesting the 2005 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Billabong World Junior Championships from December 31st 2005.

Qualifying surfers from seven ASP world regions of North America, Europe, Asia, Hawaii, South Africa, South America, host region Australasia and for the first time an ASP International contingent, along with wildcards will all vie for the prestigious 2005 ASP World Junior Title. The Billabong World Junior Championships project a surfer into the international surfing limelight, are regarded as offering the most prestigious junior title in the world and represent the only world junior event sanctioned by the ASP. It is also the richest junior surfing event in the world holding $AUD 78,000 in prize money across the junior men’s and women’s division.

Defending Billabong World Junior Champion Pablo Paulino (Brz) added his name to an honor roll that includes three-times world champion Andy Irons (1998), current world number 11 Joel Parkinson (1999 & '01) and fellow Brazilians Pedro Henrique (2000) and Adriano De Souza (2003) in the 2004 championships. Amazingly, each of the world junior winners before Paulino have reached the elite level of surfing competition with De Souza and Henrique both qualifying for the 2006 World Championship Tour. Shaun Cansdell, who finished runner up to De Souza in 2003, has also qualified for ’06 WCT.

Brazilians surfers have dominated proceedings in the last three Billabong World Junior Championships, highlighting the strong competitive nature and unique surfing talent that South America has been rapidly producing over the past 5 years. Although representatives from each region compete individually, the Australasian contingent failed to progress any surfer past the fourth round in the 2004 event, handing them a low seed for 2005 and their worst ever result in world junior competition.

The 2005 Australasian qualifying team of Ben Dunn (Old Bar, NSW), Matt Wilkinson (Copacabana, NSW), Dion Agius (Currumbin, QLD), Rhys Bombaci (Kiama, NSW) and Mitchell Coleborn (Maroochydore, QLD) features a unique mixture of age, surfing styles, tactical abilities and experience. Despite being the only surfer to have competed in the main event of the Billabong world junior championships before, 19-year-old Dunn isn’t concerned that lack of experience will have an effect on results in the 2005 event, rating the team as one of the strongest ever.

“Wilko is really young, Dion does really good airs and being at Narrabeen I think the Aussie’s can do well,” said Dunn. “I travel a bit with Rhys Bombaci also, so I’m stoked to have him there. It’s really tricky because everywhere else in the world we do better than them (international surfers). They come over here and surf in our local juniors and we beat them all the time. We go over seas and beat the internationals in their juniors as well but when they come here to compete in the ASP World Junior we seem to crumble. I’m sure this year we’ll definitely turn it around though.”

For the first time, the world’s best junior women’s surfers will also have the chance to vie for a world championship. Two surfers from seven regions along with four wildcards will form an identical WCT women’s draw and compete for USD$ 12,000 in prize money. ASP Australasian qualifiers include 2005 ASP Australasian Junior Champion Jessi Miley-Dyer (Coogee, NSW) and ratings runner up Nicola Atherton (Bronte, NSW). Australasian Wildcards include Stephanie Gilmore (Kingscliff NSW), Lindsay Noyes (Cronulla, NSW) and Airini Mason (Tugun, QLD).

“For the girls to be included into the world juniors in Narrabeen is a really significant step in the development in women’s junior surfing because I feel like it's an acknowledgement by the surfing industry that the standard has risen in the past years to the point now that we have the depth for a under 20s world championship,” said Miley Dyer. “It's a chance for us girls to stand up and be heard in one of the premier beach breaks on the east coast of Australia and for us Aussie girls its going to mean even more because its in our backyard.”

“So thanks to Billabong for giving us the opportunity.”

Northern NSW teenager Gilmore will start as red hot favourite to give Australia its first world junior title since Joel Parkinson scored the title in 2001. Despite failing to qualify for the World Juniors via the Australasian qualifying series, Gilmore has secured one of the wildcards on offer to the main event via the ASP. The natural footer, who has already secured herself as one of surfing’s greats by winning the Snapper Rocks WCT as a wildcard in March this year, has been spending her final year of school completing her HSC but will be ready to kick start her promising career when the world juniors get underway at Narrabeen.

For the third consecutive year, recently retired 21-year WCT veteran Luke Egan will assume the role of Billabong World Junior Championships contest director. The 34-year-old goofy footer who finished runner up to world champion Sunny Garcia in 2000 relishes the role of advising competitors and organizers during the nine day waiting period at North Narrabeen. Well known for his years as surfer’s representative to the ASP, early starts and valuable insight into the conditions required to run a WCT, Egan will prove invaluable in providing the exact replica of a WCT event for the junior competitors.

During the event billabongpro.com will be providing comprehensive online coverage. The Webcast will include live scoring, high quality streaming vision, heat results, video updates, press releases and photographic images. Utilising the best commentators in the business from media and professional surfing backgrounds, billabongpro.com is the only stop for LIVE surfing coverage in 2006.

The Billabong World Junior Championships at Narrabeen are supported by Panasonic, Vodafone, Coca-Cola, Clearasil, UV Triplegard, Kustom, Von Zipper, Waves, 2Day FM, Warringah Shire Council and the Association of Surfing Professionals.

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