Brazilian Adriano de Souza, former surfing world champion (2015), is one of eight international athletes who will compete alongside some of the best Portuguese surfers in the Perfect Chapter, a competition on the beach of Carcavelos, the organization announced on Wednesday .
For the first time in the history of the event, the category of international surfers does not go to public votes, so they have direct access to this championship dedicated to tubes, while 12 Portuguese athletes go to the online poll (open next Wednesday and run until Sunday) at four places, of which the remaining four are for a junior athlete (also when voting between six candidates) and three ‘wild cards’ (guests), for a total of 16 participants.
In the international contingent, note the presence of the American Balaram Stack, who won the Vans Pipe Masters, a special event of the World Surfing League (WSL), in Hawaii just over two weeks ago, as well as the Hawaiian Clay Marzo, winner of the last edition of the Padang Padang tube championship, in Indonesia.
South African Michael February, a former competitor on the world elite circuit, as well as Australian Adrian Buchan and Brazilian Bruno Santos, are other well-known names, and new talents Nathan Hedge (Australia) and Torrey Meister (Hawaii) close the international list.
“Year after year we have tried to improve the list of participants to ensure the biggest show possible. This year, to join the national surfers, we have invited a group of international athletes who bring a little bit of the new generation of world surfers and athletes who have already done several tests in arenas with the conditions we are looking for. Our work starts now, monitoring the predictions, until we find an epic Carcavelos “launched Rui Costa, promoter of the event.
On the side of the Portuguese athletes, Tiago Pires and Nicolau von Rupp, both champions of previous editions of the Perfect Chapter, are the ‘headliners’, with competition in the public vote from Filipe Jervis, Guilherme Fonseca (national champion in 2022), Guilherme Ribeiro, Henrique Pyrrait, Jácome Correia, João Maria Mendonça, Luís Perloiro, Martim Carrasco, Miguel Blanco and Pedro Boonman.
“I’ve been following Rui since the Perfect Chapter was just a dream, an idea”Tiago Pires, one of the athletes in the poll, recalled that the first edition was held with only “a tent on the sand”, but emphasized that “it is currently an internationally recognized event, with an unprecedented and brutal route”.
To complete the national squad, the public will have to select a name in the category ‘New generation’ (new generation), select an athlete under 17 to join the 16 finalists, with Francisco Mittermayer, Martim Fortes, Matias Canhoto, Salvador Vala, Santiago Graça and Tiago Faria in the race for the only vacancy.
The final list of athletes closes with three ‘wildcards’, with the Basque Aritz Aranburu, current champion of the event, already guaranteed. Another participant becomes the winner of the ‘trials’ (qualifying phase) of the race and the sixteenth element is saved by the organization among the least voted Portuguese.
In 2023, the total ‘prize money’ of the event will increase to 35,000 euros, of which 25,000 euros in prize money for participating athletes (10,000 euros more than in the previous edition) and 10,000 euros in performance prizes.
The waiting period for the Perfect Chapter runs from January 9 to March 9, with the organization determined to choose the day with the best possible conditions, waves and wind on Carcavelos beach for the ‘tubes’, the queen of maneuvering surfing.
Source: DN
