With the home waters advantage, France shone brightest at the ISA World Longboard Championships at the Cote des Basques off of Biarritz (FRA), with two medals in the men’s and women’s divisions and the team title.
In fact, it looked like the hosts would go 1-2 in both individual editions until Peru’s “Piccolo” Clemente scored an impressive 7.7 on his final ride to pass the brothers Antoine and Edouard Delpino for his first world title.
“I am so happy that I can’t express all the happiness that I feel,” said Clemente afterwards. “I’ve been wanting to win this World Championship forever. I’ve competed in so many ISA events that I can’t even remember what number this one is. I’ve always dreamed of winning it.”
Clemente moved up from the silver medal position at the 2018 Longboard Worlds.
France’s Alice Lemoigne led the women’s final, but American Soleil Errico had a chance to win in the final moments, but was called for interference. That not only eliminated her second-best score and killed her chance at the title, but dropped her to fourth behind Justine Dupont (FRA) and Chloe Calmon (BRA).
The four medals made the French an easy team winner in the Aloha Cup. Summaries:
ISA World Longboard Championships
Biarritz (FRA) ~ 26 May-2 June 2019
(Full results here)
Men/ Final: 1. Benoit Clemente (PER), 17.53; 2. Antoine Delpero (FRA), 17.17; 3. Edouard Delpero (FRA), 16.90; 4. Cole Robbins (USA), 12.77.
Women/ Final: 1. Alice Lemoigne (FRA), 15.46; 2. Justine Dupont (FRA), 13.40; 3. Chloe Calmon (BRA), 11.27; 4. Soleil Errico (USA), 7.93.
Aloha Cup: 1. France, 42.93; 2. Japan, 30.97; 3. United States, 27.10; 4. Brazil, 21.77.
