15-Year-Old Surfing Sensation Follows in the Footsteps of World Champions Gabriel Medina and Stephanie Gilmore With a ‘Surreal’ Feat

15-year-old surfer Lucas Skinner’s latest International win suggests that the surfing world may soon see the rise of a new legend. The surfing prodigy recently won the Rip Curl World GromSearch Finals in Australia, held from April 1 to 10th. Winning against the world’s greatest U-16 surfers, Lucas became the first Britisher to lift the title. Moreover, Skinner’s victory suggests that he is following in the footsteps of world champion surfers Gabriel Medina and Stephanie Gilmore. Let’s know, how.

On April 16, Lucas Skinner and his father, Ben Skinner from Perranporth, Cornwall, attended an interview with BBC.com. The duo expressed their happiness after the 15-year-old’s victory and revealed his Olympic goal.

Lucas Skinner shares the same fate with the surfing champions

The Rip Curl GromSearch began in 1999 and is credited for discovering top-notch future surfers. Just like Lucas Skinner, the championship also uncovered eight-time World champion Stephanie Gilmore and two-time World champion Gabriel Medina. For the unversed, Gabriel Medina was just 11 years old when he won his first major title, the Rip Curl GromSearch in the category Sub-12, in Rio De Janeiro. On the other hand, in 2010, Gilmore participated in the Rip Curl Search, where she won the ASP World title.

Moreover, looking at his win at the Rip Curl World GromSearch, Skinner commented in the BBC interview that it is the “start of every world champs career”. Furthermore, he expressed his happiness about visiting Australia for the first and enjoying the brand-new experience. Lucas added, “it was so surreal, I was surfing with the best surfers in the world and to be around them, it was the best thing I could ask for.”

Lucas’s father also stated that he was extremely proud to see his son achieve goals with full concentration. Apart from his recent win, Mr. Skinner also analyzed Lucas’s U16 victory at the Rip Curl Grom Search European Final 2023 (Morocco) held in February. He added that Lucas has a huge possibility of making it to the 2028 Olympics. He believed, “I think this is proof of what he’s just achieved.”

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In the past few years, surfing has massively fascinated youngsters to aim for the highest level. Recently, another 15-year-old surfing prodigy startled the surfing community by defeating Olympic surfers.

15-year-old Eeli Timperi does not care about age

15-year-old Eeli Timperi began surfing when he was 5. The Finland native always dreamt of representing his country in the Olympics. Timperi’s passion and dedication to surfing made him ready to challenge the big surfing names in a short time.

Hence, at the ISA World Surfing Games, Timperi competed against American surfer Kolohe Andino and Indonesian surfer Rio Waida. Going against the stereotypes, the 15-year-old defeated Andino’s 9.87 and Waida’s 9.43 by scoring 10.73. Indeed, it proved his skills and drive to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.

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The passion of young surfers, indeed suggests that they are preparing to elevate surfing to a whole new level in the next few years.