ACTION turned fever-pitch in the 2026 World Surf League (WSL) World Junior Championships Presented by Purefoods and Magnolia and nothing less that the coveted crowns and praises about a Union\u2019s challenging waves off Urbiztondo Beach buzzed like bees on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m very excited to be here,\u201d said Championship Tour rookie Bella Kenworthy, 17, of the US who\u2019s flashing her elite experience in La Union. \u201cThis place is super special. The wave is super fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenworthy and the world\u2019s best junior surfers\u201424 men and 24 women\u2014are converged at The Point in San Juan where they\u2019ll be competing through this Sunday\u2014the top two men and two women from each of the WSL’s seven global regions are joined by 10 wildcards per gender, each of whom are Challenger Series or Qualifying Series (QS) standouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis wave is really fun. The people are amazing,\u201d said Lukas Skinner, also 17 and returning from a major leg injury to claim his second consecutive Boardmasters title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m super excited to try to show my surfing on the big stage,\u201d said the first British surfer in 22 years to win the long-running QS on home soil with his 2024 victory. \u201cThis event is the biggest event I’ve ever been in, so I’m super excited and feeling very ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The winners of the competition\u2014also supported by the Philippines Sports Commission, SMC Infrastructure Inc. and BMEG\/Nutrichunks\u2014that features surfers no older than 20, will earn spots on the 2026 Challenger Series for an opportunity to qualify for the 2027 CT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura Raupp, meanwhile, aims to extend Brazil\u2019s World Junior legacy as the 19-year-old, currently in the middle of a successful third full season on the Challenger Series, is happy to be back in La Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m super excited to be here again,\u201d said Raupp, a three-time WSL World Junior Championship quarterfinalist. \u201cI’m super happy for this opportunity that WSL gave me with this wildcard. I want to do a great job in my heat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Host Philippines has Troy Espejon, one of four Filipino wildcards alongside his older brother Toby Espejon, Mara Lopez and Cathleya Casals, is proud to compete for flag and country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m happy to represent the Philippines,\u201d said Espejon, 19, a WSL World Junior Championship first-timer. \u201cI love to put more effort in my surfing so I can inspire the next generation in the Philippines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The field is stacked with formidable athletes\u20142023 world champion Sierra Kerr (Australia) and runner-up Winter Vincent both of Australia, 2025 Challenger Series standouts Annette Gonzalez Etxabarri of Spain (Basque Country_ and Arena Rodriguez of Peru, and rising stars Dane Henry of Australia, Lucas Cassity of Mexico and Dylan Wilcoxen of Indonesia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ACTION turned fever-pitch in the 2026 World Surf League (WSL) World Junior Championships Presented by Purefoods and Magnolia and nothing less that the coveted crowns and praises about a Union\u2019s challenging waves off Urbiztondo Beach buzzed like bees on Sunday. \u201cI’m very excited to be here,\u201d said Championship Tour rookie Bella Kenworthy, 17, of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[380],"class_list":["post-4338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-world-surf-league"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4340,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4338\/revisions\/4340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinoystep.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}