Team South Africa Wins

IFC Presented by Billabong Comes to a Thrilling Close

Team South Africa will go down in history as the inaugural title holders for the 2009 International FLOW Championships with three scintillating finals that carved a new era in the phenomenal sport of flowboarding.

Earlier, the Singaporeans gave the internationals a taste of where the future of the sport lies. These local rippers have only been riding for a few short weeks and could honestly take out some of the veterans who have been at it for years. It’s inspiring to say the least.

Alfian Juma’at continued his dream run by taking out the Men’s FlowRider event ahead of new rival Hisham Jamal. Without question, these two will be world-beaters in the future.

In the Women’s Flow, Ili Nur Adna Lim held her nerve to fend off a late charge from Jeanette Ngo Sie Yin. No one could tell where these girls learned their clean style from, but they both have bucket-loads and really fit in with the flowboarding vibe. Awesome.

The Singaporean Bodyboarding event was also a tight affair with Fadzly Laily sneaking the overall win from Mohammed Yamin. It’s going to be exciting to see what these guys will bring to the FlowBarrel in the years to come.

After the Singaporeans had worked the crowd up, the internationals were ready for action. The Expert Women’s Semi-finals had the lead change several times with Nicole Buraschi from Chile working it with her carves and spins. She’s the newest of the four to the sport and will have learned a lot from this event. Expect her to come back strong next time. Surprisingly in third spot was Marta Jekot batting for SA. Marta just couldn’t link it all together on the day – even with her sick airs and 180 combos. In the end she was a flip short and a switch move late. That paved the way for the final two; Kristen Barney for the USA and Heather Sevant for the Wild Cards. The girls had to bring their A-game if they wanted to win. Heather stuck a huge whirlybird (A three sixty flip) and added some clean airs and her slick carve routine which slotted her into first place and the title of best overall IFC Woman. Kristen Barney did stick her switch flip to fakie, but just didn’t pack enough oomph on her other moves to take first. But the girls need to be commended for their great sportswomanship and progressive riding. These girls rocked the entire week and displayed what an awesome force the US has in the girls department.

The Expert Bodyboarding semis saw Chilean Claudio Calderon Cafati took a commendable third place in a tough heat. Given more time on the wave this power-house rider is going to blow minds. That left Mr Tyler Danek and Billy Buster Tennant to duel it out for king of Prone on the barrel. Let’s just begin by saying that currently no one in the event comes close to these two riding prone. They obliterated the wave, trading front flips, hubbs, roll spins and monster inverts. The two were separated by 0.1 of a point showing how hotly contested the final was. What proved to be the decider was an error by Tyler – he fell and with that Billy was crowned king! It’s an awesome rivalry that will be a battle royale for seasons to come – but with the fight to be at the top comes incredible progression, and that’s gotta be good for business!

Last but certainly not least the Expert Men’s Strapped gladiators took to the wave for a climax to an unforgettable week. And coming down to the wire was the team ranking. The results of this contest would determine who would be crowned king.

The top four were red-hot all week – Wesley Fischer and Matt Lammers from South Africa were pumped to make the semi’s, while Greg Lazarus and Eric Silverman were only thinking that they both needed to make the finals to have any realistic dream of capturing the IFC Team Title.

Wesley making the semi’s meant that regardless of who came where, he was the IFC Men’s Overall Champion. He beamed from start to finish. He couldn’t drill his run but he still went big and took fourth in the heat. Greg Laz was luke warm on the day and although he rode insanely well and linked great tricks but fell once too often and humbly claimed third, gutted with his own performance.

The final two saw Matt “The Hammer” Lammers hold the lead after two runs, sticking the move of the contest – a Nuclear 540 Backflip. Advantage Lammers. Eric Silverman rode like a man possessed. Going HUGE. Going tech. Going all out. He needed a near perfect score on his final run – and he nailed it. He eclipsed Matt’s score by the smallest of margins and took the title. He’s only sixteen years old… where will he take flowboarding? On to an Olympic scale, that’s where.

An awesome end to a simply outstanding week in this great sport. The riders were rewarded with insane prizes from sponsors Billabong and Sony as well as cash and epic trophies. The trophies they get to keep forever but the bragging rights only last till next years event.

CLICK HERE to find information on heats, interviews, contenders and more from this unbelievable event

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