The two Portuguese surfers who competed in the final of the giant wave championship in Nazaré, Alex Botelho and João de Macedo, highlighted the excellent conditions and the unique feeling of competing in Praia do Norte.
“It was great to be in the water today and reach the final. It was great to be in ‘home’ with great conditions, a great vibe in the water and a spectacular support from the public,” said Alex Botelho, fourth-ranked at this stage of the worldwide wave circuit of the World Surf League.
Already João de Macedo, who obtained the fifth position, pointed out the “incredible sensation” to play in the final of this event. “Things have to be aligned and this has happened today. In order to make it possible, besides nature, there are a lot of people to help,” he said.
And he added: “For everything to go well, I must enjoy the moment, I tried to have fun and not put too much pressure.
The experienced Portuguese ‘big rider’ considered that the Nazaré event took place under “classical conditions”, highlighting the tubes that allowed “high performances” on the part of the athletes.
João de Macedo also said he was “happy” to see compatriot Alex Botelho compete with him for the final.
“Alex is a new generation, he was ahead of me, he achieved an important result and it’s fantastic to see him progressing,” he said, leaving a word of comfort for the good performance of the other three Portuguese surfers who were in the water today Silva, João Guedes and Nic von Rupp) but were eliminated in the first round.
João de Macedo left one last word for the thousands of people who invaded Praia do Norte: “It was brutal support from the public, we were in the water and we could hear the screams of support.
South African surfer Grant Baker won the Nazaré event of the world giant wave circuit, outperforming the opponents in the grand finale, including the two Portuguese players.
Baker revealed while receiving the trophy of the winner, who came to Nazaré a month ago and made a point of surfing “every day”, from the smallest waves and ordered the largest and most challenging, in order to prepare for the event today.
On the wave that earned him the win, one of the biggest of the day, Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker, said only that when he saw the wave go right to him he felt that he “had to go” with everything.
“I do not know where the waves are going to break, I waited, I waited, and when I had the opportunity, I turned around and went. It was incredible,” he said after having already expressed his support for the family. also of the opponents in the competition.
“It was a perfect day. Great, I feel at home in Nazaré,” he said.
Grant Baker was in incredible form in the decisive heat and got a total score of 25.04 points, leaving the Brazilian Lucas Chianca (who had won the last edition of the race) in second place (23.31 points) and Basque Natxo Gonzalez – (10 points) – in the third and final place of the podium (22.71 points).
The Portuguese Alex Botelho (22.06 points) and João de Macedo (20.87 points) finished in the fourth and fifth places, respectively, being ahead of the Australian Russell Bierke (18.89 points), sixth.
In a final with ‘dream’ conditions and the biggest waves approaching 15 meters, the competitors took to the frenzy the crowd that went to the North Beach to see the ‘cannon’ running.
