Herdy wins the 2018 World Junior Title in Taiwan
Congratulations to Mateus Herdy (17) for winning the 2018 World Junior Title in Tawain ! The Brazilian surfer from Florianópolis took out friend and Quiksilver teammate Rio Waida as well as the next best thing out of Japan Yuji Nishi en route to the Final against the aerial specialist from California, Eithane Osborne. Mateus finishes this year’s impressive QS campaign just narrowly missing WCT qualification finishing the in 18th position. The victory in Taiwan also makes Mateus the 3rd Brazillian to win the World Junior title after Adriano De Souza and Gabriel Medina.
“I was in Hawaii two weeks ago and luckily got the wildcard to come here thanks to WSL,” Herdy continued. “I have always wanted my name to be on something like my heroes Adriano (de Souza) and Gabriel (Medina). To now have it alongside them is amazing, they both inspire me so much and have helped me get to here.”
Herdy was the surfer to beat all week, there wasn’t a heat that he didn’t post an excellent score. However, he saved his best performance for the Final where he posted a two-wave total of 18.37 (out of a possible 20) to overcome Californian Eithan Osborne. It was his 9.77 for two air reverses and a number of turns on one wave that stole the show. Osborne battled hard but was left in a combination situation, needing two scores to beat Herdy.
“This has been the best few weeks of my life,” Herdy said. “I just got here to Taiwan and loved it straight away – the waves are fun, the people are so nice and it’s a beautiful place, I’m definitely coming back. I was talking to my friends before the final and knew to win I was going to have to surf better than I ever had. The conditions were great for airs so I just went for it and am just so stoked I got the win.”
Herdy, wasn’t the only Quik surfer to go deep into the event, Rio Waida (18) who lost to Herdy in the semi finals also made history. Through his final finish he achieved the highest placing of any Indonesian surfer in a WSL World Championship event.
“I really wanted to win this event but third is still an amazing result,” Waida said. “It’s really special to have the best result of an Indonesian at a World Championship event. I love coming to Taiwan and want to come back here to compete in the future — it’s such a special place to me.”
For the Quiksilver team it has been an amazing week. 13 surfers from all over the globe came to Tawaiin to represent the mountain and the wave and putting on an amazing show. With 3 riders finishing in the quarterfinal , 2 making it through to the semi finals and the World Junior Champion, one could say Taiwan has been a successful trip.