NORTH Stradbroke Island surfer Ethan Ewing has been crowned the men’s world junior champion.
The former Cleveland District State High School student took to the waves at the championship event in Kiama on Monday, defeating Californian Griffin Colapinto.
Speaking to the Redland City Bulletin on Tuesday, Ewing said the world championship win had not sunk in, but he was really happy to have come out on top.
“The year turned out pretty amazing,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it all to happen so quickly.”
It was an exceptional year for Ewing who ranked second in the men’s Qualifying Series for 2016, after placing 257th the previous year.
Ewing won four-straight Pro-Junior events and a Qualifying Series event on the Gold Coast and reached his 2016 goal in April when he took out the Australasian junior surfing title.
At the time World Surf League's tour and communications manager Will Hayden-Smith told the Bulletin Ewing was “the next big thing in Australian surfing”.
Since then Ewing has travelled around the world, competing in Qualifying Series events.
“I have travelled to South Africa, the United States, Spain, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and Japan.”
He took out the Rookie of the Year award at an event in Hawaii and has earned himself a spot on the 2017 Championship Tour.
After another event in Hawaii at the end of January, local fans might get the chance to spot Ewing when he takes a break at his North Stradbroke Island home and on the Gold Coast.
Then he will head off for another whirlwind year competing in Championship Tour and Qualifying Series events.
Ewing said his goal for the year was to be crowned the tour’s Rookie of the Year for 2017.
