This Sunday, August 11th, Yolanda Hopkins reached 5th place in the US Open of Surfing, the fourth and third-to-last stage of the Challenger Series 2024 circuit. The Algarve surfer was eliminated in the quarter-finals in Huntington Beach, California.
At stake in this competition are places for the 2025 World Surf League circuit.
After having stood out in the previous stages and being the only Portuguese woman to guarantee a place for the final day of the North American race, Yolanda ended up not finding quality waves in heat 3 of the quarter-finals, where she was surpassed by Australian and former world top performer Bronte Macaulay.
«After a balanced start to the heat, Macaulay ended up being stronger in the second half of the heat, with Yolanda not revealing a wave of potential that would offer the possibility of turning the dispute around», explains the National Surfers Association.
The Australian scored 10 points, which was enough to surpass Yolanda's 8,70.
Even so, Yolanda managed to equal the best result of her career on this circuit, which had been achieved this year at the Sydney, Australia stage. Hopkins thus rose from 13th to 12th in the ranking, where the five best surfers guarantee a place on next year's World Tour.
The Portuguese Francisca Veselko came in 17th in the waves of Huntington Beach, which leaves her in 19th place in the ranking. Teresa Bonvalot finished in 25th place and dropped one position in the ranking, to 17th place. Mafalda Lopes did no better than 41st place, being in 47th place in the ranking.
In the men's event, the Portuguese surfers were unable to overcome the opening round, with Frederico Morais and Guilherme Ribeiro both finishing in 73rd place, being in 67th and 79th place in the ranking, respectively.
The Challenger Series circuit returns on September 29th, with the Ericeira stage, in Portugal, which is the penultimate of the season and will be decisive for national aspirations. Then, the circuit ends in Saquarema, Brazil, between October 12th and 20th.
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