Watch: World Surf League Qualifying Series 1,000 Caraibos Lacanau Pro Champions
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With a deep set of talented surfers in both the men's and women's field at the World Surf League Qualifying Series, Mafalda Lopes and Maxime Huscenot emerged as the final champions.
With surfers being able to enjoy two to three foot conditions, fans got to watch some great surfing finals between Tessa Thyssen and Mafalda Lopes in the women's and Maxime Huscenot and Leo Paul Etienne for the men's divisions.
Lopes went big early on in the finals. She locked in two mid-range scores to kick off the competition. Thyssen chose to wait for a better opportunity, but as it turned out those didn't show up.
Thyssen had to play catch up the whole time while Lopes could remain calm and just give her best effort to improve her scores.
In an interview with World Surf League, Lopes talked about her day of competition.
"I'm really happy to get the win," Lopes said. "It's a good start for the QS season and I'm ready to keep going and I'm more confident now."
"It was a good final, I tried to start quick and catch two waves. I didn't think it was going to be my best waves, but it ended up being the best waves of the heat. Tessa was surfing really good, and Tya (Zebrowski) was throwing nines, so it wasn't an easy contest at all. Women's surfing is super good right now, growing super fast. I'm just happy that I'm keeping up with the girls!"
In the men's finals, it was the defending event winner, Etienne against the former Championship Tour surfer Huscenot. Both of the intense competitors had been putting on an excellent show throughout the whole event posting great scores throughout.
In the men's finals, exactly the opposite happened as far as strategy in comparison to the women's finals. Etienne was first out and scored a 6.83 out of ten. He kept after finding a better wave, but nothing came his way worth keeping.
Huscenot stayed patient and waited it out for a wave worthy of the effort. What he found was the best wave of the heat and locked in a 8.0 for his opening ride.
Etienne made a comeback and actually took the lead when he backed up his score with a 7.5 but Huscenot's patience paid off. In the final minute of the competition, as reported by WSL, he "rolled into a left hander to smash two big backhand turns and got the score he required to take the win and earn another title in Lacanau."
Huscenot recounted, "I'm super happy right now. I watched Leo's semis and I knew he could score very well on airs and turns so I was expecting to go with big scores. My strategy for the final was to just find some 8-point rides, but with the tide pushing in really fast it was hard to find the right one. I was trying to be really patient and then I got lucky when I found the wave I was looking for."
"I wasn't sure if I was going to come here or not, but then I decided to come because I love this place and I wanted to make some heats and get the result," Huscenot continued. "Last year I got second so I really wanted to win. The last time I won here I qualified so hopefully this brings me the momentum and I can finish the year very well."