Western Australia’s rising surf stars are off to a flying start at the 2025 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Peru, with heavy six-foot surf and the occasional solid eight-foot set turning on world-class conditions at Punta Rocas and El Bosque.
WA’s Maverick Wilson (pictured) powered through to take a convincing opening round win in the Boys Under 18 division on Day 3, showing his strength in the challenging conditions. Earlier in the week, Olive Hardy delivered a dominant performance in the Under 16 Girls, surging out in front with a standout heat win.
Fellow Australians also made their presence felt, with Lucy Darragh posting an impressive 9.00 point ride to claim the highest single-wave score of the Under 16 Girls opening round, while Sammy Lowe kept the momentum rolling with an excellent 8.00 in the Boys Under 18.
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Read the full ISA recap for Day 3 and Day 4 below.
Day 4 Highlights
Multiple heats went down to the wire as excellent conditions continued into Day 4 of the 2025 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship (WJSC). Four-to-six-feet of swell lined the peak of Punta Rocas and provided long lefts at El Bosque. Main Round 2 was completed in U/16 boys at Punta Rocas, along with U/16 girls Repechage Round 1, while the first 18 heats of U/18 girls followed the completion of U/18 boys Repechage Round 1 at El Bosque.
Sixteen nations started the day with full teams intact. By day’s end, that number had been whittled down to four. As the teams race starts to shape up, the host nation of Peru is joined by Brazil, Portugal, and the USA on top of the leaderboard. In U/16 boys, Pol Huguet (PER) delivered his second standout moment of the event with a buzzer-beater sending the Punta Rocas local from fourth to first. After redeeming himself in repechage, Bastián Arevalo (PER) claimed a solid heat win. Urpi Torres (PER) accomplished the same in U/18 girls, with Camila Sanday (PER) also progressing through the same round.
With Seconds Remaining, Ocean Lancaster (AUS) and Aditya Somiya (INA) Flip the Script
On a day filled with buzzer-beaters, none was quite as intense as Heat 20 of U/16 boys, which finished with a near-total flip in placings. Having sat for over half the heat without catching a single wave, Ocean Lancaster (AUS) delivered a masterclass of precision on a long Punta Rocas right to earn an 8.50. Falling off his second wave with barely 30 seconds left, Lancaster scratched into the only wave he could catch. Having previously only needed a 0.37 to advance, the Australian knew he would need more. With Luca Thompson (NZL) in the lead, Lancaster sitting in second and Aditya Somiya (INA) sitting in third, the Indonesian took off with five seconds on the clock. When the final scores arrived, Lancaster had done enough to take the lead, Somiya had also improved to take second just 0.07 ahead of Thompson, who was eliminated alongside Kamiel Deraeve (BEL). Having come within striking distance of the Final in 2024, Lancaster was extremely relieved to keep his campaign alive.
“I’m actually lost for words from that heat,” Lancaster said. “I went out there and I was so hyped. I was watching all the heats leading up to it, and there were just so many good-looking waves. I was like, alright, I’m just going to go out there and give it my best and catch a bunch of waves and got out there and sat for the first half of the heat. And then I got that one, and it was such a good wave. And I was like, alright, I’ve got eight minutes, I should be able to find one in the next eight minutes and get a backup. And then just paddled from left to right trying to find something, and nothing came to me. At the end, I took off on one and my foot slipped on my first turn and I was like, ‘Oh my god, is this it? Am I gone?’ And then I managed to scratch into one that didn’t even look like a wave and somehow pulled off one turn on it and got the job done. It was crazy.”
WA’s Olive Hardy (left) with fellow Irukandjis teammates celebrate their opening round success. Credit: Pablo_Franco / ISA.
Day 3 Highlights
Swell continued to pour into Punta Rocas for Day 3 of the 2025 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship (WJSC). Consistent six-foot lines were joined by the occasional solid eight-foot set, providing the world’s best junior surfers with a large open-face canvas at both the main peak and inside left at El Bosque.
With the completion of Main Round 1 in U/18 boys and U/16 girls, repechage rounds began, seeing the first eliminations of the competition. Due to the size of the field, only a single round of repechage will take place for each division. This guarantees at least two heats for every surfer in the event but determines that every heat moving forward will result in direct elimination for those who don’t advance.
Relishing the opportunity to attack the powerful lefts of El Bosque on her forehand, Lucy Darragh (AUS) closed out her first-ever ISA heat with a 9.00, the highest single-wave score of the opening round of U/16 girls, contributing to the round’s top heat total of 15.50. Currently leading the hotly contested WSL Qualifying Series rankings for Australia/Oceania after winning two major QS 6000 events already this year, the 15-year-old is experiencing a breakthrough season in 2025 and is excited to keep that momentum going in Peru.
“The waves are absolutely pumping today,” she said. “You couldn’t really ask for better waves, so really stoked on that,” Darragh said. “There was a lot of build-up to the first heat, a lot of nerves. So I’m really happy to get that one out of the way. It’s been such good waves. Yesterday and today, it’s been six-foot-plus, pumping left and right. It’s such an honour to be part of Team Australia. Everyone has got such good team spirit. Everyone’s so supportive, down here for every single heat, you know, ring of fire. So honoured to be part of the team.”
Darragh’s victory followed strong performances in the same division from Charli Hately (AUS) and Olive Hardy (AUS) on day two of competition. Meanwhile, the sole Australian representative in repechage, Team Captain Milla Coco Brown (AUS), found her feet to return into the main event.
Competition will resume, Wednesday, December 10, at 7:00 a.m. PET with U/18 boys Main Round 2 at Punta Rocas and the continuation of U/18 girls Main Round 2 at El Bosque.
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