Francisca Veselko national surf champion of Liga MEO Surf
Francisca Veselko is the new national surf champion of Liga MEO Surf 2021, the main surfing competition in Portugal.
The young surfer from Carcavelos, only 18 years old, guaranteed the title in advance, as the current number 2 in the ranking, Carolina Mendes, has already confirmed that she will not be present in the final stage of Liga MEO Surf, o Bom Petisco Peniche Pro, which takes place next week, from 16 to 18 September.
After winning the women’s ranking leader yellow lycra in the Sintra stage, a place she maintained after the 2nd place in the Miss Costa Nova Cup, Francisca needed to reach the final of Bom Petisco Peniche Pro to secure the national title or then, hope that Carolina Mendes did not win the last stage of the MEO Surf 2021 League.
However, Carolina Mendes, after receiving an invitation to compete in the inaugural stage of the Challenger Series of the World Surf League qualifying circuit, which takes place in California, chose not to participate in the Peniche stage, ending up giving the national title in advance to Francisca Veselko.
An achievement that comes after a season marked by a lot of regularity on the part of the surfer from Carcavelos. After five stages, Francisca managed to go to the final four times, having as “worst” result a 3rd place. Now, in Peniche, she’s going to try to win a stage of the MEO Surf League for the first time in her still short career.
This is Francisca’s first title at the highest level, she who this year was already two-time national U18 champion and had already won the Allianz Triple Crown, the most important lateral trophy in the MEO Surf League.
Since 2014, there was no national title full (open and junior), something that was done that year by Teresa Bonvalot. Francisca Veselko also has two national U-16 titles, won in 2016 and 2018, in addition to being considered junior surfer of the year in the 2020 MEO Surf League.
