Don Alejandro Montañés Baena has fulfilled it, the future is now and Ale can say today that he is the champion of the Internacional Skimboard Ocean Spirit 2024 held in Santa Cruz, Portugal. In add, Ricardo Dias finishes as runner-up champion (after winning the first stage of the Portuguese national League on Friday) and Nico Morales takes the under18 title and an impressive 5th place in Open category (at 16 years old), after an epic weekend for all three.
Last weekend, Five years after his emergence into the world of competitive skimboarding during 2019 edition of this same championship, Ale was proclaimed champion of the classic skimboarding event in Europe. At that time he emerged as the great revelation of a tournament that marked his debut in the open category and at only 13 years old and 39 kilos, he managed to finish7th – competing with the best skimmers in Europe and eliminating a few of them in his way -. He can say now that he has jumped into the mythical pool of winners as a champion and furthermore, he can say it with complete merit: winning every heat of the all weekend.
There are many sporting promises that fall by the wayside. Many diamonds that never shine completely, many talents that fade with maturity… Ale is not the protagonist of one of those stories. He is of one of those that Hollywood movies tell, because without a doubt, he is already an established skimer on the top.
Last year, in addition to winning the Euro Skim Tour 2023 in the under18 category, he also managed to be third in the Open category, only Lucas Fink (world champion) and Juanlu González (European champion and his teacher) finished ahead of him. This season picks up where he left off and keeps going up. There seems to be no limit.
It was quite a spectacle to enjoy the Portuguese Skimboard International again with classic conditions on the first day of competition. There, in addition to Ale, our Ricardo Dias shone, passing all the rounds as first until the final with his nice flow and making maneuvers as if it were a video game. The second day, in the finals, the conditions were very complicated and our two riders managed to adapt better to take first and second place that makes us proud and happy. Nico, for his part, did the same to demonstrate that the throne left vacant by Ale, due to age, belongs to him.
We want to thank everyone who makes this event possible, from first to last: organizers, judges, assistants, sponsors… And also to all those who take our boards to the finals of the different categories; especially to Eva, who once again sneaked into the women’s Open final on her own merits, for a good fourth place finish. Well done!
Ranking of the International Skimboard Ocean Spirit 2024. EURO SKIM TOUR #1
MEN’S OPEN: 1. Ale Montañes // 2. Ricardo Días // 3. Beryl Besseau // 4. Javi Sola
FEMALE OPEN: 1. Kika Freire // 2. Carolina Ruivo // 3. Adriana Turnes // 4. Eva Ureña
UNDER18: 1. Nico Morales // 2. Viente Mata // 3. Vicente Lopes // 4. Jesús Lara
Photos by Freeskimmag and Tiago Segurado. Obrigado Artur!
