Algarve surfer Frederico ‘ Martim ‘ Magalhães managed this Sunday, April 24th, to qualify for the ‘Totally Crustaceous Tour’ ( TCT ) world finals, by finishing 3rd on ‘Mulettfish @ Hossegor, France’, the last event of the Volcom circuit European leg. The three European Pro Am ‘tickets’ for the TCT Global Championships in Trestles were all won by Portuguese surfers, two from the Algarve.
Algarve surfer Francisco Duarte was practically qualified before the French event and reached the quarter-finals in France. The two Algarve surfers for the ‘Clube Naval de Portimão’ (Francisco and ‘Martim’) join fellow Portuguese surfer Miguel Blanco, who had the Pro Am clearance ( 20 years or less ) guaranteed after winning the previous two events in Costa de Caparica and Tenerife. Francisco Duarte had two runner-up finish ( Amado and Tenerife) and traveled to France with almost guaranteed clearance.
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Francisco Duarte traveled to France with no pressure because we was almost qualified for Trestles (®PauloMarcelino/April2016)
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Frederico ‘Martim’ Magalhães won the first event of the European TCT, at Amado Beach, Algarve, in August last year but did not get a good result in the two later events. The Algarve surfer needed a second good result and that’s what he got in France in a tough event, whith many and strong French athletes.
“I knew that the level was high and when I arrived I saw that it was too high. I’ve always believed that I would reach the final, but had the notion that it would be very difficult“, said the Algarve surfer. ‘Martim’ went trough the eighth-finals, the four-finals and semi-finals always in second in his heats and reached the final without the clearance to qualify for the Global Championships.
Surfer of the Canary Islands Kalani Silva also reached the final in France and could ‘steal’ the clearance from ‘Martim’ by winning the event and if the Algarve surfer finished 4th. Kalani had won the semi-final in which ‘Martim’ was 2nd and one of the French favorites to win in Hossegor was eliminated in 3rd.
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Reaching the final in France was not enough. ‘Martim’ had to secure 3rd place to qualify for Trestles (®PauloMarcelino/Dec2015)
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The Hossegor Pro AM final was different from the semi-finals. “I was not worried about Kalani. I was worried about surfing well and trying to win the final”, said ‘Martim’. The Algarve surfer surfed well and fought ‘cue-to-cue’ for 2nd place. Kalani did not entered this fight and finished in 4th place, last in the Pro Am final. “It is a championship that I will never forget”, concluded the Algarve surfer.
‘Martim’ Magalhães is very satisfied with his new Al Merrick surfboard, one of the secrets for his recent surfing successes. The board belonged to Jonathan Gonzalez and reached the hands of the Algarve surfer, almost new, through Gony Zubizarreta.
Since ‘Martim’ Magalhães started surfing with the new board he won the ‘aerial show’ at the QS in Zarautz, made 13th place and eliminated a four times Portuguese national champion (Ruben Gonzalez) in Event 2 of the Portuguese professional tour Liga Moche 2016 in Costa de Caparica; and reached the Pro Am final at ‘Mulettfish @ Hossegor, France’, managing to qualify for the TCT Global Championships, a trip with all expenses paid by Volcom, to surf and compete in Lower Trestles, California, USA, in June.
Swell-Algarve recalls that a third surfer from the Algarve, young João Mendonça will also be present at TCT Global Championships. The young surfer Arrifana won the single European Squids (10 years and less) ‘ticket’ for the world final of Volcom, winning the first three european events.
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