Tortola teenager Rush Broderick advanced in one division, but was eliminated in a second Wednesday at the International Surfing Federation’s 2024 World Junior Surfing Championships in Surf City, El Salvador.
The 16-year-old Broderick – the first British Virgin Islands surfer to compete in the Junior Worlds – finished in the top two in his first repechage (consolation) round heats in both the under-16 boys and under-18 boys divisions. But he was eliminated from the under-18 division in the second repechage round.
In the World Junior Championships, the top two scorers in each heat – either in the championship or repechage brackets – advance to the next round. Two finishes outside of the top two eliminate the surfer from further competition.
In the under-16 boys division, Broderick finished second in his four-surfer heat with a total score of 8.10. That was more than 3½ points behind heat winner Esteban Lapierre of France (11.73), and just beat out third-place finisher Sebastian Ribes of the Dominican Republic by 0.1 points. Nicaragua’s Emmanuel Espinoza was fourth with 4.17.
That sends Broderick on to the second repechage round, where he is paired up against Canada’s Tanner Sandvig, Indonesia’s Dylan Wilcoxen and Tommaso Layson of Barbados. The second round will be held today on Surf City’s La Bocana beach.
Meanwhile, in the under-18 boys division, Broderick finished second in his three-surfer heat with a score of 7.47, just over two points behind heat winner Julio Ernesto Crespin of El Salvador (9.50), but more than double the score of third-place finisher Rivan Rosskopf of Switzerland (3.53).
That sent Broderick on to the second repechage round – and his third heat of the day -- Wednesday afternoon, where he finished fourth with a 5.13. Argentina’s Joaquin Munoz made a solid late run pay off with a heat win, scoring 10.00 to beat Canada’s Jonas Meskis by just over a point (8.87). Spain’s Alejandro Sancho was third at 8.70.
