Juniper Harper working her home break for a place in the Oz Grom finals at Lennox Head.
Photo Ethan Smith, Surfing NSW
The 2022 Oz Grom Open concluded last week with eight new champions being crowned across a variety of age divisions, as well the World Surf League (WSL) Pro Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) event being decided.
With the previous day’s unpredictable conditions disappearing overnight, competitors were able to revel in the clean and punchy three-to-four foot walls that graced the competition area.
Kobi Clements (Long Reef, NSW) won the boys’ final in the Pro Junior division while Raya Campbell (Coolangatta, Qld) topped the girls’ division.
Harry O’Brien (Lennox Head) went through to the final after achieving second place in his semi, after scoring two of the heat’s top-three waves, but he couldn’t match this in the final and came away with fourth place.
Fellow Lennox Head surfer, Juniper Harper, was in contention during the final after scoring a 6.0 ride, but couldn’t find another compelling wave score to challenge the champion and finished the event in third place.
Leihani Kaloha Zoric (Byron Bay) also did well, finishing in second place in the U/14 girls’ division, while Ocea Curtis collected fourth place in the U/16s.
Max McGillivray (Evans Head) surfed well beyond his years to win the U/14 boys’ after he belted out turns that would have fit in perfectly in older age divisions.
The six-day event ran from 7–12 July and comprised of a WSL sanctioned Pro Junior Qualifying Series event, as well as an elite competition for promising grommets in the Under 14, 16 and 18 divisions.
