Whatshot
Dylan Lightfoot and Zo'Steyn Top WSL Africa QS Rankings
Dylan Lightfoot and Zo'Steyn Top WSL Africa QS Rankings
South Africa, and Dylan Lightfoot of Jeffreys Bay, and Zo'Steyn of East London, are the 2019World Surf League (WSL) Africa Qualifying Series (QS)winners.
For Lightfoot, everything kicked into the next gear after winning the Royal St Andrews Hotel Port Alfred Classic and the Vans Surf Pro Classic in Lamberts Bay, his firstQS wins.
"Personally, it's a stepping stone to achieving my goal to qualifyfor the Championship Tour (CT). Going into 2019 it was my goal to win a QS event and win the WSL Africa title, so I am super stoked to have achieved both," said Lightfoot.
"The biggest learning curve for me on the QS this year is how crucial it is to make the correct decisions in heats that allow you to be in rhythm with the scoring rides," said Lightfoot.
"When you qualify to surf in the QS10,000 events the level of surfing is so high and everyone rips - it's a matter of making the right decisions in the moment that allow you to advance through or not."
The women's race was a much tighter affair between Zo' Steyn and Ceara Knight from Kommetjie, with less than 200 points separating the surfers at the end of the season.
"Ceara and I had quite a ding-dong battle this year. Competition is good and the rivalry is healthy! I am very happy with the results, as it gives me another shot at qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, and of course gettinginto bigger QS events is a huge boost," said Steyn.
Meanwhile at Huntington Beach in California South Africa finished ninth at VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, out of the 44 nations who competed. Daniel Emslie of East London posted the best performance of the 12 team members, when he narrowly missed out on a medal in the U16 Boys division.
The South African Junior Team was coached by Chris Bond (Cape Town), Etienne Venter (Jeffreys Bay) and Heather Clark (Port Shepstone)

