![\"Jordy](\"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/smithj955.jpg\")
\nSee the event LIVE on www.aspworldtour.com or www.billabongpro.com<\/p>\n
North Narrabeen, Australia (Sun. Jan 7, 2007) \u0096 A jubilant Jordy Smith from South Africa has emerged from the water at Narrabeen Beach, Sydney, Australia a world champion today after claiming a win in junior surfing\u0092s most prestigious event \u0096 the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships. <\/p>\n
Smith, a lanky naturalfooter from Durban made the most of everything that came his way throughout the day, and in the end held off a solid charge from 2003 winner and current Foster\u0092s ASP World Tour number 20, Adriano de Souza in the 30-minute final.Starting off slow with few quality set waves pushing into the Narrabeen arena, both surfers had only minor scores locked in, but as the final progressed both opened up with some big moves and in the end it was a nail biting finish as Smith hung on to the lead till the final hooter with de Souza snapping at his heels. <\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092s amazing. I\u0092ve never really done well in this event so it was great to be able to pull off a win for my family and friends back home in South Africa,\u0094 said Smith. \u0093It all feels amazing right now but when it sinks in\u0085 I\u0092ll let you know tomorrow!\u0094<\/p>\n
Smith admitted that he really had to lift to get past de Souza who only needed just over a 6.0 to get past him. Smith also believed he was also helped when the wind swung offshore which prevented de Souza from launching his typically radical aerial turns. <\/p>\n
\u0093Adriano is a terrific surfer and I had to really step it up to go up against him,\u0094 said Smith. \u0093Luckily in some ways the wind changed so he couldn\u0092t get the big ramps to launch airs, so yeah I\u0092m happy to come out on top against him.\u0094<\/p>\n
Traditionally Smith has struggled here at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships but this year was showing a lot of confidence, which may have stemmed from his third place against the best in the world at Jeffreys Bay in 2006.<\/p>\n
He will now focus on getting on top of the ASP World Qualifying Series so he can match it with the big boys in 2008. <\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092ve definitely got more confidence this year and I just went out there to free surf and luckily I came home with the win,\u0094 said Smith. \u0093To get on the Foster\u0092s ASP World Tour is my goal for sure and I\u0092d like to be on there next year so that\u0092s going to be my focus\u0085 but right now I\u0092m going to enjoy this moment. To be alongside your heroes like Andy Irons and Joel Parkinson is a dream come true.\u0094<\/p>\n
For de Souza the second place was a solid start to 2007 and he indicated that it will give him motivation when his Foster\u0092s ASP World Tour campaign resumes in just over a month\u0092s time. <\/p>\n
Interestingly de Souza still has one year remaining in the juniors and can come back to claim a second title in 2008.<\/p>\n
\u0093It was a good final and I\u0092m stoked for Jordy right now,\u0094 said de Souza. \u0093It was good to start the year with a second so I\u0092m happy. I still have another year left so hopefully I\u0092ll get to come back to Narrabeen next year and do it for Brazil and win it for the second time. It\u0092s great to get going and hopefully I can go further than last year on the first Foster\u0092s ASP World Tour event on the Gold Coast where I finished in third last year.\u0094<\/p>\n
Finishing in equal third place was Australian hopeful Matt Wilkinson. <\/p>\n
The goofyfooter put on some of the event\u0092s best performances in early rounds \u0096 in fact claiming the highest total of the event in his round four heat, an 18.37 out of 20. <\/p>\n
But by his own admission he felt he might have peaked too early.<\/p>\n
“Yeah I think I may have used up all my 9.0s yesterday unfortunately,\u0094 said Wilkinson. \u0093I just couldn’t find a steep wave through the whole semi out there this morning. I felt even with a minute to go I could have scored the 9.0 that was needed, because if you do one air and link together some decent turns the judges are throwing some big scores. I just couldn’t find the waves out there in the end.\u0094<\/p>\n
He was however pleased with his overall result.<\/p>\n
\u0093The third place is definitely a confidence boost going into the ASP World Qualifying Series this year. The guys here have been surfing amazingly… I really wanted to win the event but I’m still happy to get third.\u0094<\/p>\n
On being beaten by de Souza, Wilkinson took his hat off and tipped it for his foe.<\/p>\n
\u0093There was no one tougher to surf against than Adriano de Souza,\u0094 said Wilkinson. \u0093He’s an amazing competitor and an amazing surfer\u0085 he has a full arsenal of turns.”<\/p>\n
Also finishing third was young Hawaiian Mason Ho who was elated to have ended up near the pointy end of the draw\u0085 Mainly because he can trump the bragging rights that his sister scored yesterday after also finishing equal third in the women\u0092s. <\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092m just super stoked with the result,\u0094 said Ho \u0093I tied with my sister who got third in the girls so she can\u0092t brag too much when we get home [laughs].\u0094<\/p>\n
While Smith ran away with the semifinal Ho watched on in awe and joked that Smith surfed to his own strategy.<\/p>\n
\u0093I was talking to Jordy out there after I was watching him and I was saying to him, \u0091that was what I wanted to do!\u0092\u0094 laughed Ho. \u0093You either go super-on like him or super-off like me but hey I\u0092m stoked with the result.\u0094<\/p>\n
The new Billabong ASP World Junior Champions will now stand alongside Layne Beachley (AUS) and Kelly Slater (USA) at the ASP World Champions Banquet to be held in late February.<\/p>\n
Full results, audio downloads, athlete quotes and video highlights are all available on www.billabongpro.com <\/p>\n
Final Results: <\/p>\n
Quarterfinals:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 15.67 def Hank Gaskell (HAW) 14.50
\nHeat 2: Adrian de Souza (BRA) 11.16 def Thiago Camarao (BRA) 5.33
\nHeat 3: Jordy Smith (AUS) 12.00 def Pierre-Valentin Lombard (FRA) 8.27
\nHeat 4: Mason Ho (HAW) 12.84 def Torrey Meister (HAW) 11.50<\/p>\n
Semifinals:<\/p>\n
Semi 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.40 def Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.50
\nSemi 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.80 def Mason Ho (HAW) 4.20<\/p>\n
Final: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.84 def Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.83<\/p>\n
Final Team Results: <\/p>\n
1st South America 2774
\n2nd Australasia 2486
\n3rd Hawaii 2474
\n4th Africa 2432
\n5th Europe 1967
\n6th Japan 1460
\n7th USA 1270<\/p>\n
(Based on best 4 scores from each regional team not including international or wild card invites. Top 4 teams get 6 invites to next year\u0092s events while other 3 only 5.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billabong ASP World Junior Championships (January 1-8 2007) See the event LIVE on www.aspworldtour.com or www.billabongpro.com North Narrabeen, Australia (Sun. Jan 7, 2007) \u0096 A jubilant Jordy Smith from South Africa has emerged from the water at Narrabeen Beach, Sydney, Australia a world champion today after claiming a win in junior surfing\u0092s most prestigious event … Continue reading “JORDY SMITH WINS THE BILLABONG ASP WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17802,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13552\/revisions\/17802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}