The 2023 WSL Junior Tour has come to a close. The final event was the SAMBAZON World Junior Championships Hosted by Best Western, held in Oceanside, California. Sierra Kerr and Jett Schilling beat out each region’s top under 20-year-olds to secure spots on the 2024 Challenger Series.
The men’s final came down to a back-and-forth battle between San Clemente native Jett Schilling and Maui’s Jackson Bunch. In the end, Jett won, marking the first time since 2018 a Californian has won the World Junior Championship. It also was yet another reminder of San Clemente’s current dominance in competitive surfing. “Last year was crazy. I was stoked to start off good,” said an emotional Jett in an interview with the WSL. “I just gotta work even harder this year and keep going so I can get on the Championship Tour with all my friends.”
Meanwhile, the women’s final was a showdown between Coolangatta (Carlsbad) local Sierra Kerr and Palm City, Florida’s Zoe Benedetto. Kerr put on a dominant finals performance, scoring a near-perfect 9.00 and earning a 16.83 combined score. “It was amazing,” said Kerr in a post-heat interview. “I feel like I haven’t been surfing that good this call, so I went into the final like ‘I’m just gonna leave everything on the table,’ and I feel like I actually surfed good, so I was frothing.”
