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Top Seeds Stand Out at eThekwini Surf Pro QS 2,000
WSL
Today was the start of the World Surf League (WSL) Africa Qualifying Series (QS) 2025/2026 season with the eThekwini Surf Pro QS 2,000. As the first stop of the season, it's an important event for the region's Challenger Series hopefuls. It was a challenging day with small surf and onshore wind in the afternoon, but the contestable conditions allowed for a full day of surfing.
Sarah Baum Excels At Old Stomping Grounds
In her first competition in several years at her old stomping grounds, Sarah Baum showed her years of international experience to score the highest heat total of the event so far, an excellent 16.00 (out of a possible 20). Baum, who has been grinding it out on the QS in Australia for most of her career and represented South Africa at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was a cut above the rest in today's conditions.
"I grew up surfing these beaches, it's so nice to see familiar faces," said Baum. "The waves are fun, it's small but it's still very contestable. I always love coming back home. It's where I grew up and I get to sleep in my own bed and see my family and friends! I'm excited for the rest of the competition."
The 2024/2025 WSL Africa regional QS winner Louise Lepront started her QS campaign today with a win in the Opening Round. As the conditions deteriorated in the late afternoon, Lepront went hunting up and down the lineup to try and improve her score. With two mid-range waves, Lepront comfortably took the win in a low-scoring heat to advance to the Quarterfinal.
"It was really hard to find the right wave out there," said Lepront. "I'm just happy to get through that and hopefully we get better waves tomorrow.
Never giving up until the buzzer, Challenger Series surfer Jessie Van Niekerk worked hard to get herself out of elimination and into the winning position with less than a minute on the clock in the final heat of the day. Van Niekerk channeled the experience from other nail-biting heats on the QS to find the required score and advance to the Quarterfinals.
Small Wave Wizardry from Adin Masencamp, Steven Sawyer
Perennial threat Adin Masencamp looked sharp, scoring the highest single-wave score of the men's Round of 32, an excellent 8.33 (out of a possible 10). Masencamp recently returned from Australia after competing at the first Challenger Series stop in Newcastle and will use these upcoming QS events as a warm-up for the next Challenger Series in Ballito.
"It's good to be back in Durban," Masencamp said. "It's good to start off with a bang like that, it feels really good. It's super difficult out there, but I knew it was going to be like that. I managed to get that good wave that came from the back and surfed it to the beach, so I'm stoked."
Surfing fast and loose on a twin fin, Steven Sawyer found a few rare gems out there to earn the best heat total of the men's Round of 32 with 13.10 (out of a possible 20). Advancing to the Round of 16, Sawyer will also be surfing in the Semifinals of the eThekwini Surf Pro LQS when competition resumes.
"I'm just super stoked to have made it through that heat," Sawyer said. "James Ribbink let two waves go in that heat, and they actually had such nice bowls and cleaned up so I managed to get two good maneuvers in there. The trusty twinny asymmetrical is still doing the trick. You want something wide and stable that's just floating over everything in these type of conditions."
Slade Prestwich caught a red eye flight from Hawaii to arrive in time for his heat at the eThekwini Surf Pro. Happy to be back in Durban, Prestwich's trademark snaps and fast maneuvers earned him a spot in the Round of 16.
"I'm super happy I made it on time for my heat," said Prestwich. "The bowl out there is really good and the guys are ripping. The onshore is actually helping to create some fun sections, tomorrow we might have cleaner conditions."
The next call will be on Friday, June 20 at 7:15 a.m. GMT+1 for a possible 7:35 a.m. start.
The eThekwini Surf Pro will be streamed live from Thursday, 19 June through Saturday, 21 June. Watch live on WorldSurfLeague.com, the WSL YouTube or the free WSL app.
For more information visit WorldSurfLeague.com
The eThewkini Surf Pro is proudly supported by Durban Tourism, HUGE TNS and Surfing South Africa.
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