Costa Rican Malakai Martínez and Canarian Lucía Machado won the fifth and final stage of the WSL European Junior Circuit, which took place last weekend on small waves in Sao Miguel, Azores.

In the final, Martínez defeated one of the current juniors, the Tahitian Kauli Vaast, who had a very good performance at the Teahupoo CT and who, with his second place in this tournament, was crowned European junior champion.

“I’m super happy to have won here today, before this my best result had been fourth place,” Martinez told WSL press. “I came to celebrate the birthday of one of my best friends, Tiago Carrique, and unfortunately I was the one who took away his chances of winning the European title,” she added.

The result earned Martinez $2000 and 1.000 ranking points.

On the women's side, the Canary Islands continued to show that they are a hotbed of talent. The final was 100% Canarian with Lucía Machado beating her neighbour Julia González.

The result qualified Lucía for the WSL Junior World Championships to be held in November in Taiwan.

“I’m so happy right now,” Machado said. “I woke up this morning wanting to give it my all in every heat and that’s what I did. That final was like free surfing because I was with my good friend Julia and I enjoyed it a lot.”

Third place in the event went to the young woman from the Basque Country, Janire González Exebarri.

The European top 5 youth players were as follows:
1 - Kauli Vaast (FRA) - Qualified for the Junior World Championships
2 - Tiago Carrique (FRA) - Qualified for the Junior World Cup
3 - Justin Becret (FRA) – Qualified for the Junior World Championship
4 - Selyann Zouhir (MAR)
5 - Edoardo Papa (ITA)

Ladies
1 - Mafalda Lopes (PRT) - Qualified for the junior world championship
2 - Lucia Machado (CNY) - Qualified for the junior world championship
3 - Juliette Lacome (FRA) - Qualified for the Junior World Championships
4 - Ellie Turner (GBR)
5 - Julia Gonzalez (CNY)