at 13 years old and for his very first Challenger Series, Tya Zebrowski takes 2nd place in Ericeira

Further up is the world circuit (CT). The big league, which we can already say without taking too many risks, that those who are still old enough to attend playgrounds are promised to join in the not-so-distant future. “So big a fan of this girl’s surfing and she’s only 13 years old, fluidity, style and progression,” raves the five-time Hawaiian world champion Carissa Moore to her approximately 600,000 followers on Instagram, whom the Frenchwoman considers her greatest inspiration. There are worse public knighthoods.

This Sunday, the final day of the EDP Ericeira Pro, Tya Zebrowski honored his wild card to the end on the beach of Ribeira d’Ilhas. After having, since last Monday, signed the best score (8.33) of the 1st round, eclipsed three surfers stamped CT (Nichols, Van Dijk, Callaghan) in the 2nd, then having eliminated another (Silva) in the 8th before definitively putting Nichols in a position to compete in the quarters, the tricolor nugget took the scalp in the semis from the all-powerful Kirra Pinkerton.

On a tormented stretch of water lacking in pretty wave faces, the American with a CV adorned with a WSL junior world champion crown (in 2018) struggled to express herself. Zebrowski too, at least during the first minutes, before finding his feet and scoring a 6.50 and a 7.00 almost in quick succession, to bring his total to a 13.50 inaccessible to Pinkerton (11.94).

Tya Zebrowski then suffered the law in the final from the stainless Sally Fitzggibons. At the age of 33, the Australian with three honorary titles of vice-champion of the WSL world (from 2010 to 2012), 12 victories in the elite and a regular presence in the world top 5, was assured since the day before return to the CT in 2025 for a 16th (!) season after being a victim of the “cut” last April. However, nothing to demobilize this fierce competitor.

Zebrowski: “Even more appetite”

Faced with a surfer with such a long track record and… 20 years her senior (!), the young Frenchwoman could have been a little impressed. On the contrary, as since the beginning of her Lusitanian epic, she has bravely played her luck. The ISA U18 world vice-champion (yes, yes, U18) distinguished herself by achieving a monstrous lay back (5.50). A critical maneuver that she particularly appreciates and that there are not many on the women’s circuit to send with such radicality. Two minutes from the buzzer, while she was chasing a 7.65 to take control of the series, we thought she was going to repeat her quarter against Nichols through the air, but her attempt was just that. failed once.

Fitzgibbons also fumbled and, like Zebrowski, had to settle for median scores for a long time. Until she unearthed the section that was both the biggest and cleanest in the series, on which she landed two precise and well-felt turns, only to come away with a 7.67. In the final moments of the heat, she added a significantly higher back up (5.93) which sealed her success (13.60-10.80). The second in a row in the Challenger Series after the one in Huntington Beach last August.

“I am of course a little disappointed to have lost the final, but it was my first Challenger Series and I am already very happy with my journey, it gives me even more appetite for the next one,” smiled Tya Zebrowski, who benefited throughout the week from the valuable advice of local coach Tomas Fernandes. But also the indispensable support of her family, including her father Gary, a former professional snowboarder who praised the dazzling gain in maturity in surfing of his daughter phenomenon, otherwise shy and reserved, following her success at the QS from Anglet about a fortnight ago.

Tya Zebrowski isn’t done with the Challenger Series this year. If she was “only” invited to Ericeira and she cannot mathematically claim accession to the CT for next year, she is already on the seed list for the final CS event of the season at Saquarema, Brazil, from October 12 to 20. Before moving on with almost certainty to the CS 2025, given its very solid position as leader of the European QS ranking (which will qualify the final top 4 for the Challenger Series). With a horizon of 2026, the CT?