Competition heats up in tightly contested Labor Day Weekend event
information released, file photo
The third edition of the creatively structured Continental Surf Cup saw an increase in drama, surfing skill and team spirit, but the results essentially mimicked year one and two. Behind the strength of three-time individual men’s champion, Lenny Weinhold of Germany, Team Europe was able to hold off the most competitive Team USA in the history of the event. With the team title still up for grabs during the men’s final, it was Weinhold who was able to post a 2-run total of 18.63 to secure the individual title and the team title for Team Europe. Team USA finalist and 3-time runner up Ben Benson (Kuta Beach, Bali) and back-to-back finalist Cash Eygabroad (Chelan, WA) needed a 1-2 finish to lead Team USA to victory, but Weinhold rose to the occasion for the third year in a row.
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The team competition was narrowly contested this year because of the drastically improved USA Women’s Team. After struggling to compete with the European women in the first two years of the competition, the US women came out on fire and took 4 of the first 6 women’s heats and ended up outscoring the European women 13.25 to 12.25 during the competition.
The US women were led by 14-year-old Hawaiian surfer Cash Hoover who dominated the competition. Hoover never lost a heat and walked away as the Women’s Individual Champion and Women’s Best Trick Champion while also earning the maximum possible points she could for Team USA (9.5). Hoover surfed away from the competition in the final where her 17.33 2-run total was 3 points better than defending individual champion Fabiana Klein of Germany.
Team Europe again showed that depth and experience paid off in this competition. As a team they outscored or broke even with the Americans in 3 of the first 4 rounds and only dropped the Best Trick round because Benson and Hoover of Team USA each earned .5 points for being crowned Best Trick Champions. Team USA Surfer Liam O’Driscoll (Boston, MA) earned 50% of the fan favorite vote and the loudest cheers of the weekend for stomping down the first and second ever perfect 10.0 best trick scores. O’Driscoll was able to land the perfect 360 pop shuv it in his round 1 heat as well as the team final, but couldn’t stick it in the finals where Benson’s indy grab frontside air reverse won him the title.
During the Surfing Classic heats Team Europe men won 4 of the 5 heats and that helped them build a lead that Team USA would never overcome. The European men managed to place 1st and 2nd in each of the first four heats leaving no room for the US men to earn a team point. The USA women helped their team not lose too much ground by taking 2 of the 3 women’s heats in Surfing Classic’s behind the strength of Reese Bordner (Chelan, WA) and Celine Dornick (Chelan, WA) who were able to team up to beat 2022 Individual Champion Valeska Schneider (Germany) and Marina Grimaldi (Spain).
Team Heats 2 at the start of day 2 was the last chance for surfers to snag one of the top 4 spots and advance to the Team Finals and with a tight team competition it was also the last opportunity for surfers to pair up with teammates for team points. Team Europe won 5 of the 8 heats to extend their lead to 3-points while US Surfer, Sierra White, managed to add 2 points to her previous best score to climb into 4th place for the US women which led her to an eventual 4th place overall finish.
The Team Finals featured 4 surfers from the same team competing for two spots in the final. The Team Europe Women’s final saw Klein and Kathi Horhan (Austria) finish first and second respectively, while Hoover and White finished 1-2 for the US women. Weinhold and Maximilian Lex (Germany) finished 1-2 in the tightly contested European men’s final while Benson and Eygabroad advanced out of the US men’s final to set the lineup for the final. With 26 of the 59 team points still available during the consolation final and overall final, the three point deficit Team USA faced was not insurmountable. It was the depth on Team Europe that allowed them to expand their lead and leave Chelan with their third straight Continental Surf Cup.
The Continental Surf Cup is jointly hosted by Lakeside Surf and citywave Global at Lakeside Surf’s 16m citywave in Chelan, WA. While no longer the widest citywave in the world, Lakeside Surf’s citywave is considered the biggest and best by surfers because of its unmatched power, steepness and unique control system. The Continental Surf Cup is a Team Surf Event between 16 European and 16 USA surfers. 10 men and 6 women represent their team through 4 rounds of competition trying to earn team points with their heat partners while also trying to land themselves in the top 4 on their team so they can advance to the Team Finals and work toward a podium finish.
There are 59 total team points available with every heat in the first 4 rounds offering 1 team point to the team with the highest combined score. Team points are also awarded to the top 7 individual finishers from the overall final and consolation final.
Day 1 of the event has three rounds of competition while day 2 features the fourth round and all the finals. The opening round this year was Team Heats 1, which is judged with a 60/40 split based on the surfer’s ability to make turns that feature power, flow & speed combined with both surface and aerial tricks. This heat format is the foundation of river surfing at Lakeside Surf as it rewards the surfer who integrates high level turns with impressive tricks. This format is used for both the Team Heat rounds as well as all the finals on day two. The Surfing Classics round prohibits spins and air maneuvers and is solely judged based on classical surfing turns and maneuvers. While the Saturday night show features the Best Trick Competition that gives the surfers the chance to hit the one-of-akind air section at Lakeside Surf to land the best trick. As a special treat for the thousands of spectators that come through the gates over the tournament weekend, the Best Trick Competition has additional rounds that lead to an individual trick champion for the men and women with the winner of each earning an additional .5 team points for their team.
In a historically individual sport, the Continental Surf Cup at Lakeside Surf showed the world that river surfing is as much about community, togetherness and relationships as it is about individual accolades. Surfers from both teams bonded over the competition and could be seen cheering each other on as they pushed each other to new heights in their surfing. The 2025 Continental Surf Cup will be back Labor Day weekend at Lakeside Surf in Chelan, WA where Team USA will once again try to dethrone Team Europe.
