WSL Challenger Series qualifier and 2025 SA Open of Surfing champion Louise Lepront has added another title to her brimming trophy cabinet, out-surfing her competitors to win the 2025 Sea Harvest Junior Open surf contest in Durban, on Sunday 18 May, 2025.
The SAST beach-break event was held between the piers at Dairy Beach, the good left- and right-breaking waves presenting an ideal venue for the best young competitors in the country to display their surfing skills to spectators and the judges, and featured U12, U14, U16, and U18 competition divisions.
Lepront’s toughest opponent was younger sibling Leah Lepront, a champion in the weekend’s U16 division, who started the quarter-final round of the elite U18 division with the highest score of the three heats.
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Both sisters went on to top-score their respective quarter- and semi-final heats, before the accomplished elder sister Louise laid down two high scores in her first four waves to win the final, judges scoring her at 13 to win by 3.5 points over Leah Lepront, bronze medalist Taylor Emslie closing off the podium.
Leah Lepront top-surfed to win the U16 category, finishing ahead of U14 champion Maya Malherbe in second and Max Kaufmann in third place.
Malherbe won both her U14 heats to comfortably win the age-group title ahead of Ella van der Made in silver and Coco Clark in bronze. Like the silver medalists in the higher age groups, Van der Made was top-scored by the Judges to win the U12 title, ahead of Summer Harding and Lila Prinsloo.
With her Durban win, Lepront caps a sparkling 2025 home season which saw her win numerous titles and accolades, including the Royal St Andrews SA Open Championships title in April this year, and will head off to the first WSL Challenger Series event in Australia in June full of confidence.
Podium Results at the 2025 Sea Harvest Junior Open at Dairy Beach, Durban, from 17 to 18, May 2025
U18 Final
Louise Lepront 13.00
Leah Lepront 9.50
Taylor Emslie 8.63
U16 Final
Leah Lepront 9.54
Maya Malherbe 8.73
Max Kaufmann 6.43
U14 Final
Maya Malherbe 10.00
Ella van der Made 8.83
Coco Clark 5.74
U12 Final
Ella van der Made 12.50
Summer Harding 8.13
Lila Prinsloo 5.50
Main Photo Caption: WSL Challenger Series qualifier and 2025 SA Open of Surfing champion Louise Lepront (left) has added another title to her brimming trophy cabinet, out-surfing her competitors to win the 2025 Sea Harvest Junior Open surf contest in Durban, on Sunday 18 May, 2025. All Photos: Surfing SA
Photo 2 Caption: SA Open U18 finalists (from left) Louise Lepront (Gold), Leah Lepront (Silver), Taylor Emslie (Bronze) and Lia Aszalos.
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