Aloha Classic 2024: Liam Dunkerbeck triumphs in the juniors, Keith Teboul wins the masters classification

The action on Maui is slowly but surely coming to a head. After the first winners of the Juniors and Masters were crowned at the weekend, the big showdown of the Pro Men and Women will take place tonight in Ho'okipa. The earliest possible start is this morning at 11 a.m., i.e. at 10 p.m. tonight (Monday, 28 October) in Germany. HERE go to the livestream.

Liam Dunkerbeck wins on Maui and is U21 World Champion

Spaniard Liam Dunkerbeck took the decisive victory in the juniors at the weekend. In the final, he set the bar high on his very first wave with cracking turns and aerials, earning himself a 7.6-point ride - the highest single wave score of the final. While the competition struggled to find waves with multiple manoeuvring options, Dunkerbeck showed great patience and skill in his wave selection. He grabbed a smaller wave, made a few turns and finished with a clean 360. Liam's dominance this year leaves no doubt that he is the best U21 rider in the world. He's won every junior competition he's entered, including Japan, Chile, the Canary Islands and now Hawaii: "I've been in the division three years in a row now and I've won every heats and finals in those three years," he said. "I will now focus on the men's division, where I am in the quarter-finals. From now on it's going to be tough heats, I'm just going to go out there and have fun and try to learn."

Second place went to Japan's Hayata Ishii, who cemented his reputation with fearless riding in Hookipa. Ishii delivered crisp aerials and a goiter in the final and would have been even more dangerous if he had found longer waves with better finishes.

German Marlon Maethner completes the youth podium

Marlon Maethner from Germany rounded off the podium on Maui in third place. He showed aggressive wave riding on the bigger set waves and scored a 6-point wave - the third best wave of the final. Despite a strong semi-final, Japan's Ryu Noguchi seemed to feel the pressure as the others caught bigger waves early on, prompting him to chase the smaller waves. He had to settle for fourth place. However, Noguchi should feel encouraged by his impressive performance in the Pro Men's Division, where his attacking style took him through to round five.

Keith Teboul wins at the Masters

Keith Teboul surfed easily and with a lot of speed. He hit some critical sections and beat his colleague Francisco Goya. The legendary shaper Teboul was riding a new board that was partly inspired by Kai Lenny's style: "It's a new board that I built for this event. It's only the second time I've ridden it," he said. "When I get it right, it feels incredible. I used a set of Kai Lenny's fins, a thruster set."

Francisco Goya, brand owner of Goya and former wave world champion, took second place. Goya also still attacks critical sections and pushes hard on the rails, but his waves simply offered fewer opportunities than Teboul's: "When you surf with friends, the best comes out in everyone. My first event was in Maui in 1990. I'm just infinitely grateful that I was able to be there for so long," said Goya nostalgically. Goya's team rider Vincent Beauvarlet had a great competition, finishing third in the Masters and 17th in the Pro Men.