Jett Schilling and Sierra Kerr Win WSL World Junior Championships In Oside
…and more importantly, they secure Challenger Series wildcards.
Jett Schilling and Sierra Kerr just battled through six-foot to near-flat Oside Pier over the past five days to clinch their Under-20 crowns.
Jett, 20 (yes, it counts) and Sierra, 16 seem to be reaching that part of the Y2K coming-of-age movie when the self-improvement montage starts, the pop-punk starts playing, and the acne-less faces start grinning ear to ear.
Sierra premiered her profile film, Pre-Kerrsor (which is dropping on Stab Premium next week), last night just blocks away from the podium she stood on this morning. And Jett, after watching his best friends Cole Houshmand, Kade Matson, and Crosby Colapinto qualify for the CT this year, just proved his worth to new sponsor Tenore and guaranteed himself a spot on the Challenger Series next year.
What do these wins mean for Jett and Sierra?
- A clinched wildcard spot in the 2024 Challenger Series, bypassing the need to qualify through the Qualifying Series.
- Bragging rights.
- Social Media pacification for sponsors.
All of the above items, despite the cheekiness, are equally important in 2024 in our era of tight budgets and limited money to go around in the surf industry.
While Sierra and Jett seemed fairly dominant throughout the event, they did confront some retaliation in their finals against event runner-ups Zoe Benedetto and Jackson Bunch, respectively. Ultimately, Jett’s X-factor air game and Sierra’s fin-ditching strength pushed them over the edge in Oside’s nano-conditions this morning.
2 Sleeper Stand-outs: Malibu’s Talia Swindal and Encinitas’s Levi Slawson.
Sierra and Jett will have to wait until April 27th to cash their wildcard at the first stop of the 2024 Challenger Series at Snapper Rocks.
Let’s see if their coming-of-age movie ends in the sort of challenges-overcome, happy-tears-shed, friends-hugging-friends way that they’ve worked so hard for.
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