Source: Portuguese Surfing Federation – www.surfingportugal.com

The fourth and last event of the Lightning Bolt Pro Junior 2009 has concluded and has revealed the new National Champions – Frederico Morais and Francisca Santos.  These are two examples of young talents that have way surpassed the statute of promises to aim at a place outside our borders.

The wave conditions were far from being ideal, but this was not an obstacle to the talent of the main protagonists of this 2009 edition of the Lightning Bolt Pro Junior.  The last stage was run on this weekend (October 10-11) in the CDS Beach – Costa de Caparica – with plenty of sunshine and small waves, which demanded maximum application in technical terms.  In the final title counts, the results of this event had a relative importance, though the score analysis is illustrative of the high competitive level shown during the tour.

On the men’s side, Frederico Morais’ modest fourth place in Caparica was enough for him to declare victory.  At 17, the nephew of the National Rugby team coach Tomas Morais, lives a golden moment.  “After being a Runner Up last year, I now managed to fulfill my goal and in this way reinforce what was my best time ever.  I am now fully motivated to move forward and fight for a place in the Portuguese phase of the WCT.  In relation to my future, I think that in 2010 I will concentrate mainly in my international career – especially in my participation in the Under 21 World Championship that will take place in Australia and for which I have prepared myself”.  Vasco Ribeiro, winner of the event and who obtained the highest combined score (16 points), took a second place in the final ranking followed by José Ferreira and Ivo Cação.

With fewer participants and some important absences, such as that of Ana Doria Sarmento (due to injuries) and Francisca Santos, the women’s competition in Costa de Caparica was dominated by Francisca Souza.  As the title was indexed to the three best results of the season, Francisca Santos was declared the winner although she was far away, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in a WQS competition in Brazil.  She thus said goodbye in the best possible way to the Junior division.  Francisca Souza obtained 2^nd place in the 2009 ranking followed, respectively, by Ana Doria Sarmento and Carina Duarte. 

The following is the list of athletes that qualified to the finals in each age group:

Under-12
1) Ricardo Esgaio
2) Guilherme Guerra
3) Gonçalo Rugeroni
4) Luís Neves
5) José Silva
6) Tomás Silva
7) Pedro Baptista
8) Francisco Fernandes

Under-14

1) Pedro Neto Silva
2) Gonçalo Pinheiro
3) Iuri Van Santos
4) Bernardo Esparteiro
5) Mauro Filipe Bandeiras
6) Manuel Vilela Guerra
7) Evandro Mirão
8) António Belard Ribeiro
9) Miguel Gonçalves Adão
10) Luís Pereira
10) Rafael Beires Vidal
10) Frederico Toureiro Sena
13) Tiago Miguel Carolo
14) Henrique Petiz
14) Luís Pedro Costa

Under-16
1) Daniel Silva Fonseca
2) Miguel Matos Coelho
3) Francisco Bessone Basto
4) Bogdan Goleminov
5) Manuel Vilela Guerra
5) Cesário Fonseca
7) João Vagos Santos
8) João Clemente
9) Luís Manuel Fragoso
10) Tomás de Castro
11) Tomás Galamba Martins
11) Bernardo Guerra Machado
13) Miguel Gonçalves Adão
13) Manuel António Mesquita
13) Ricardo Ribeiro Duarte
13) Manuel Edmundo Gomes

Under-18
1) António Jorge Lopes
1) António Cardoso
3) Dino Carmo
4) Guilherme Vilela Guerra
5) António Coutinho
6) Pedro Paula
7) Filipe Campos
8) Diogo Coutinho Silva
9) Bruno Neves
10) José Oliveira Sentieiro
11) Pedro José Picão
12) Frederico Palma
12) Tiago Leitão
14) Miguel Serrão
15) Afonso Maria Vassalo
16) Rui Pedro Azevedo

Under-18 Girls