Finn McGill takes 2017 World Junior Champion title
COURTESY WSL / MATT DUNBAR
Oahu surfer Finn McGill, second from left, poses with other finalists in the 2017 WSL Jeep World Junior Championship earlier this week in Australia. The other finalists are, from left: Joh Azuchi, Vahine Fierro, and Summer Macedo.
Finn McGill of Oahu’s North Shore has earned the 2017 World Junior Champion title at Bombo Beach in Australia.
Despite suffering an ankle injury, McGill managed to rise above to claim the coveted 2017 title at the Jeep World Junior Championship early Wednesday morning (Tuesday in Hawaii) with two excellent wave scores — an 8.00 and an 8.90 — for an accumulative total of 16.90.
“I can barely talk right now; it hasn’t really sunk in just yet,” McGill said in a press release. “After coming off an injury I wasn’t expecting too much of a result at this event. I was never feeling in much of a rhythm and seemed to just be sneaking through heats. It all changed in my quarterfinal and all of a sudden I began to build and feel the flow. Then once I was in the final I knew I had just one more heat to surf, so I knew I just had to wait for the good ones and surf them well.”
Vahine Fierro of French Polynesia took the women’s 2017 World Junior Champion title.
McGill, 17, now joins a list of current and leading World Champions from Hawaii, including John John Florence (2017 and 2016 World Champion), Honolua Blomfield (2017 World Longboard Champion), Paige Alms (2016/17 Big Wave Champion), and Kai Lenny (leading the 2017/18 Big Wave Tour).
He is expected to compete in the upcoming WSL Sunset Open and Sunset Pro Junior competitions next week.
