Straight From The Pros: Johanne Defay
Image Credit: © ASP/ Kirstin - Photographer: Kirstin Scholtz
CAPBRETON, France (Friday, February 10, 2012) - Johanne Defay (FRA) came runner-up in the prestigious 2011 ASP World Junior Title rankings finishing with an equal 5th place at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships last month on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Leading the World Rankings before the final event in Australia, Johanne just came short loosing in the Quarter-Finals to Hawaii’s Nage Melamed. After a third place in the opening event of the World Title in Bali, and an even better 2nd place in Brazil, Johanne needed a better result to claim the coveted World Junior Title.
With two more years in her Junior career, Johanne becomes a European favourite for an International Title in the near future. On the eve of participating in the ASP 4-Star Australian Open of Surfing Junior and 6-Star Australian Open of Surfing main event, we caught up with Johanne.
“Hi Johanne, congratulations on your runner-up position in the World Junior Title
Hey, thank’s
After winning the 2011 ASP Europe Junior Title you’re obviously the in-form surfer at the moment, what’s your secret ?
I don’t think I have one.. I had a pretty difficult start of the year on the Star Tour, and I had to work for school too with important exams at the end of the year. I wasn’t really focused and didn’t get any good result. But then the Pro Junior series started with Reunion Island that I won at home, and that made me feel really good and gave me momentum for the rest of the season, I ended up winning the European Title.
The World Juniors is another story, at each event we had such a great team of frenchies and Europeans in general. We supported each others all the time and that really helped.
Third in Bali and second in Brazil, that came really close in Australia, what happened ?
Before the event I swore to not put any extra pressure on myself, but obviously it didn’t work ! From the first round I felt like I wasn’t surfing like I should, my legs were weak and I was totally freaked out, there’s a lot of stress coming into play and I think I still have a lot to learn..
You’re only 19 and with two more Junior seasons ahead, what’s the plan now ?
Actually I’m still only 18, I’ll be 19 later on in 2012 !! Now that I’ve finished school I can fully concentrate on the Tour, so I’ll be participating in both Junior and Star events full time this year. It all starts very soon in Manly.
Pauline Ado and Justine Dupont are both on the World Tour this year, what do you think of the European level in general ?
I think it’s awesome, Europeans are now a legitimate threat to other nations on an international stage, «We scare them and that’s really good» as Patrick Flores would say !
Many European up-and-comers emerge from Reunion Island, why do you think is that ?
We have some really good waves at home and they’re good to learn on. We can easily learn the right trajectories and repeat them until they’re perfect.
It’s not all good though, I think we don’t develop the same marine sense other Europeans may have surfing beachbreaks. They’re trained to constently look for the right wave that will offer potential to score, whereas we in Reunion Island are mostly used to sit tight and wait because the perfect wave always comes !
Thank you for your time and we wish you an excellent start of the season !
Thank’s a lot.“
Johanne Defay will be competing in the Australian Open of Surfing in Manly Beach – Sydney (Australia) from February 11-19, 2012. For more information on Johanne, you can check her profile on aspeurope.com
Category: All ASP News, ASP Editorial News, ASP Junior News
