This Saturday, Afonso Antunes became champion of the QS3000 in Pantín, Galicia. The young surfer, aged 21, achieved the first victory of his career on the WQS circuit of the World Surf League and did so in one of the most historic events in European surfing.
A victory that earned him 3000 points for the 2024/25 European qualifying circuit ranking and leaves him in the lead in the race for places on the 2025 Challenger Series circuit, where access to the world circuit will be discussed. This is after Afonso has not been competing 100 percent at an international level in the last two years.
Antunes managed an upward trajectory throughout the event, after being just 5 seconds away from being eliminated in his debut heat. The young Portuguese surfer capitalized on the moment and reached the final day in Galicia as the only Portuguese in the competition on the men’s side.
In the quarter-finals, Afonso began a true epic against the French, starting by eliminating Nicolas Paulet by just 0.17 points. Then, it was Luan Nogues’s turn to fall by the wayside in the semi-finals.
In the grand final, the experienced Jorgann Couzinet managed to put himself in a good position in the heat, but a score of 8 points, achieved in the final stretch of the heat, allowed Afonso Antunes to turn around, who scored 13.17 points, against 13.00 for the adversary.
“I still can’t believe what happened”, Afonso Antunes began by saying, after the final. “I’m shaking. I thank everyone who supported me in these two years when I didn’t compete so much. When I arrived in Pantín I wasn’t finding the rhythm or boards for this type of wave. But, little by little, I found myself and that is the best thing I take away from this event. My dream is to reach the world circuit and we will continue fighting for that”, he highlighted.
Also noteworthy are the performances of Teresa Bonvalot and Francisca Veselko, who fell in the semifinals of the women’s race, both finishing in 3rd place. Carolina Mendes reached the quarter-finals and concluded the Pantín Classic Pro in 5th place. The victory in the women’s race went to Frenchwoman Tya Zebrowski.
The European QS circuit is now entering a period of pause, and no further races are planned until the end of the calendar year. However, the action should return in the first months of 2025, for the final stretch that will define the European places for the Challenger Series 2025 circuit.
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