Special coverage presented by Surf City - El Salvador Travel - All photos by WSL/Pierucki 

Californian surfer Taylor Jensen confirmed his first place in the rankings and became world champion, tying the record of four world titles that had only been achieved by his father-in-law, Nat Young, in 1990.

Jensen won both final matches against Kai Sallas, who came from Match 2 and had left four surfers behind: Ben Skinner, Kaniela Stewart, Rogelio Esquievel and John Michael Van Hohonstein.

The Oceanside man won the first final by 16,23 to 11,73 and the second by 16,66 to 10,46.

In the last one he only surfed two waves, a 7,33 and a 9,33.

Jensen was world champion in 2011, 2012 and 2017, when longboarding was judged 50/50 and he was one of the great representatives of high-performance surfing.

From the modern era in which only the classic is judged, he has just become the first to succeed in making the transition.

Nat Young, the last four-time world longboard champion, won the title in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990.

 

 

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Rachael Tilly is the new world champion

Californian Rachael Tilly comfortably won match 1 of the grand final against Soleil Errico.

Showing the same consistency that he had all week, Tilly gave Errico no chance, as he chose the waves badly and fell a lot.

The final score of the series was 12,9 to 11,6.

Now there is either one more match if Tilly wins or two if Errico wins, since it is a best of three.

 

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Kai Sallas eliminated young Johnny the Ripper and made it to the grand final

Clash of the Titans +40: The Hawaiian will face Taylor Jensen

Kai Sallas managed to eliminate his Honolulu neighbor, John Michael Van Hohonstein, thanks to the same consistency and class with which he surfed all day.

The Hawaiian scored 14, which was not surpassed by the 12,6 of the young man from South Shore.

Sallas will now face Taylor Jensen, who has already secured his jump from position 4 to 2, and will face the Californian in a best-of-three duel.

The two over 40s have met several times.

 

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Rachael Tilly beat Honolua Blomfield to make it to the grand final

Californian Rachael Tilly ended Hawaiian Honolua Blomflield's incredible streak and made it to the grand final where she will face defending champion Soleil Errico.

Tilly was effective in starting with a 7,5 which she then backed up with another 7,5 to eliminate the Hawaiian.

Upon exiting the water, the Californian celebrated with her mother, saying that she was going to drink water and rest during the 30 minutes she had between exiting the water and the final, which is a best-of-three match.

 

 

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HAWAIIANS CONTINUE ON THE STREAK

The Hawaiians continue to shine in the finals, the two who won the ISA World Championship here, Honolua Blomfield and Kai Sallas, have already won three series in the first and two in the second to now be in match 4.

Blomfield had her closest match against Alice Lemoigne, winning 12,84 to 12,23, and the same happened to Sallas, who beat the Filipino 12,73 to 12,43.

They will now go to match 4 against Rachael Tilly from California and Johnny The Ripper from Hawaii.

 

 

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Kai Sallas dreams of repeating and acts accordingly

Defending champion Kai Sallas of Hawaii, the current ISA champion who won here at El Sunzal a couple of months ago, was very solid in his heat and made it to match 3, putting himself two steps away from the grand final.

With a total of 13,67 he left Ben Skinner and Kaniela Stewart out of the competition, who had beaten Steven Sawyer and Chase Lieder in match 1.

Sallas, who is usually quite reserved, was happy on the beach when he received the news that his scores were sufficient.

 

 

Blomfield dodges two bullets

 

 

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Hawaiian three-time world champion Honolua Blomfield has already dodged two bullets, first eliminating Sophia Culhane and Kelis Kaleopaa and then Zoe Grospiron and Natsumi Taoka to make it to match 3 where Alice Lemoigne awaits.

The Hawaiian is getting closer to achieving the Steph Gilmore feat in 2022, when she won the world title from Match 1.

Blomfield, who won the ISA here in El Sunzal a few months ago, is motivated to do it again. She clocked 14,03 in her first series and 16,03 in the second.