LENNOX HEAD BEACH (Saturday, 8 July 2023): The 2023 Skullcandy Oz Grom Open pres. by Vissla continued to see some of the nation’s best grommet surfers tear apart tiny conditions today as competitors looked to cement themselves positions into the quarterfinals.
12-year-old Locana Cullen (Avalon, NSW) surfed well beyond his years in the quarterfinals of the Under-14 Boys, with the talented natural-footer performing a handful of critical snaps and carves to put his fellow competitors on the ropes. When the final hooter sounded at the end of the heat, Cullen had finished with a gigantic 16.17 two-wave heat total. Cullen will make his next appearance in the quarterfinals.
Other Under-14 Boys standouts included Zac Johnston (Coolangatta, Qld), Noah McBride, Ashton Crowley, Luca Martin (Coffs Harbour, NSW) and Joey Silk.
Rico Haybittle (Burleigh, Qld) made his presence felt in the Under-18 Boys division, locking in the highest wave score of the event so far, a near-perfect 9.5, for a critical, inverted air-reverse. Capitalising on an unpredicted pulse in the swell, Haybittle gained the upper hand in the heat and left his closest opponent Fletcher Kelleher (Manly, NSW) requiring an excellent 8.35 wave score to take away his lead.
Other Under-18 Boys round three winners included: Dane Henry (Fingal Head, NSW), Willem Watson (Mornington Peninsula, Vic), and Eden Hasson (Port Stephens, NSW)
Meika Locke (Palm Beach, Qld), Ziggy Aloha Mackenzie (Bali), Alice Hodgson (Kiama Downs, NSW) and Sara Hickson (Rye, Vic) all put on impressive performances in the small low-tide conditions to take wins in the third round of the Under-16 Girls. All four girls have cemented their spots in the quarterfinals which will be surfed later in the event window.
All other results can be seen here.
The six-day event will run from 6 July –11 July 2023 and will comprise of a World Surf League (WSL) sanctioned Pro Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) event as well as an elite competition for promising grommets in the 14, 16 and 18-year age divisions.
In a similar vein to preceding years – where the event has attracted surfers from ten different countries – a full international field is again expected in 2023 with surfers coming from as far away as Europe, USA, Hawaii, Indonesia and Japan to make up a field of more than 270 surfers across all divisions.
A five-person judging panel comprised of current WSL Championship Tour and Qualifying Series judges will be on-site as well as a live webcast that collectively sets this event above any other junior competition in the world.
Former event competitors include a range of current and former World Championship Tour such as, Molly Picklum, Mikey, Owen and Tyler Wright, Jack Robinson, reigning World Junior Champion Jarvis Earle and local surfers Mikey McDonagh and Nyxie Ryan.
The event will get underway by 7.30am each day.
Daily press packages will be sent out over the course of the event.
All event divisions will be broadcast live worldwide on skullcandyozgromopen.com.au from Friday, 7th July, 2023
For more information on the event, please contact info@surfingnsw.com.au or call (02) 9093 6035
