Opening Day sees stand out performances, setting the stage for a dramatic Day 2 of U18 competition

It was a welcomed return to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria today for the APP World Championship Tour Finals for SUP Surfing, with action right off the bat for talented and global field of U18 talent in attendance.

It's hard to imagine that the young talent from Japan, Kapono Fukuda is still only 16, but as defending Champion from 2022, Kapono showed up with intent this year, building through the day to post an impressive total of 16,5 points in the semi finals. It was certainly not without a good fight, with solid performances from the entire U18 field, inclusive of young French standouts Titouan Pajot and Lucas Winder-Dreux.

However, there is no doubt that Kapono is the man to beat, with one more heat to go for him to be able to retain his Title for 2023, with just the young Spanish talent from Cadiz, Enrique Perez Serra standing in his way. The final will take place tomorrow, along with U18 girls competition and both Men and Women's SUP Longboard, with the first call for competition scheduled for 7:45am.

Check out the highlights and stay tuned for the call @appworldtour and follow all the action LIVE at appworldtour.com

Benoit Carpentier sets the pace on Day 1 of the SUP Longboarding Championships, while Taka Inoue makes a late charge in the repechage

Reigning APP World Champion in the regular SUP division, Benoit Carpentier from France set the tone in heat 1 of the SUP Longboarding division with a dominant performance that saw him advancing directly onto the quarterfinals. With a 15,17 heat score total, he established himself as the man to beat as we will progress onto the quarterfinals tomorrow here in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

However, he was not without his challengers, as the ever impressive and reigning SUP Longboard World Champion Leco Salazar from Brazil showed his prowess to advance on to the quarterfinals, as anticipated. Meanwhile, arriving late from a longboarding event in Korea that saw him miss his opening heat this morning, Taka Inoue from Japan came straight from the plane to his repechage heat to advance onto the quarterfinals, and once again proved himself to be a major contender here on the APP World Tour.

The first round of the Women's Longboarding division was also completed, with Camille Dubrana from France and local favorite Iballa Moreno from right here in Gran Canaria advancing directly to the semifinals, with repechage to follow tomorrow morning here at La Cicer. Remember to check out the highlights @appworldtour / appworldtour.com 

Join us for all the action live tomorrow (Wednesday 22nd November) at appworldtour.com and stay tuned to all the updates and latest from the event @appworldtour, with the first call for the day to be made at 7:45am Las Palmas time (GMT).