POLLOCK BEACH, Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa (Sunday, 6 April 2025) - Today, Anastasia Venter and Connor Slijpen won the World Surf League (WSL) Africa Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) 2025 Nelson Mandela Bay Pro Junior in bumpy two-to-three foot surf at Pollock Beach, Gqeberha. Lily Heny and Ben Esterhuyse finished runners-up respectively.
As the first stop on the 2025 WSL Africa Junior Tour, it's an important event as it counts towards potential qualification for the WSL World Junior Championships at the end of the year.
Connor Slijpen - WSL / Kody McGregor
In the men's Final, Connor Slijpen's strategy to lock in the first score worked out in his favour to put the pressure on first-time finalist Ben Esterhuyse. There was a long lull and time slowly ticked by, until Slijpen found a great wave and scored an excellent 8.17 (out of a possible 10) and immediately backed it up with a 7.10 to put Esterhuyse in a dreadful combination situation.
Slijpen, in his final year as a Junior, wasn't satisfied yet and kept on hunting. He found what he was looking for, and earned an impressive 8.83 from the judges to close the door and earn the highest heat total of the event with 17.00 (out of a possible 20).
"I'm stoked, the waves were really fun," Slijpen said. "I saw there were a few bigger sections out the back, so I knew if you could find those waves and hit a big section you'd get a good score."
Slijpen, who recently qualified for the 2025 Challenger Series, used this event as part of his preparation for the upcoming Challengers.
"This is really just preparation for the Challenger Series," Slijpen said. "I'm trying to get in as many heats as I can, practice as much as I can and try and do my best."
It was an exciting clash between Cape Town's Slijpen and Durban's pocket-rocket Ntokozo Maphumulo in the second Semifinal. Slijpen dealt the first big blow when he dismantled a wave with his fast and sharp surfing. Maphumulo got to work and tried to manufacture a big score, but he couldn't pull it off and Slijpen shut it down at the end to progress to the Finals.
Meeting for the third time in this competition, Ben Esterhuyse and Josh Malherbe went head-to-head in the first Semifinal. It was a tight matchup, but Esterhuyse improved both his scoring rides late in the heat to surge past Malherbe and earn his first Finals appearance and career-best result.
Anastasia Venter - WSL / Kody McGregor
In a rematch of last year's Final, defending event winner Anastasia Venter and Lily Heny met again in the Final at Pollock Beach this year. It looked like it would swing in Heny's favour, as she increased her lead halfway through the heat. The pressure was on Venter to respond, and her experience showed when she locked in the required score to jump into first with 5 minutes left on the clock. With no other scoring opportunities on the horizon, Venter denied Heny the title once again.
"I'm feeling really good," Venter said. "It's so good to win this competition again, and it's right around the corner from my home. It was a long and hectic competition, and I really wanted the win, so when I got to the Finals I could kind of relax, and just said to myself, let's just surf and have fun."
Lily Heny booked her spot in the Final when she overcame Emily Jenkinson in the first Semifinal of the day. Heny was trailing behind Jenkinson, searching for a better wave that would offer her more to work with. She found it in the end, getting the best score of the heat, to advance to the Finals.
Anastasia Venter edged out Louise Lepront in a low-scoring affair in their Semifinal matchup, to setup a rematch with Heny in the Finals.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Pro Junior is supported by Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Accelerate Sport, Astron Energy, Surfing South Africa and Red Bull.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Pro Junior ran from 5-6 April 2025 at Pollock Beach, Gqeberha.
For more information visit WorldSurfLeague.com