The Rip Curl Cup Winners Crowned
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East Beach – Luc Lepront and Tasha Van Greunen are your 2025 Rip Curl Cup Champions, and both banked R22k for their first prizes.
The contest featured many of the country’s top surfers, a selection of young crew members, and a few old-guard surfers.
In the Women’s Final, Tasha Van Greunen was in form. She only surfed three waves in the final, but two were good enough to put her in the lead. Anastasia Venter had shown flashes of brilliance over the weekend of surfing but couldn’t do enough to snatch victory from Van Greunen, who was a stoked winner. Louise Lepront was third, with Remi Fourie fourth.
“I wasn’t really sure what the score of the other girls was, but I knew that I had two good waves under the belt,” said Van Greunen. “I just kept it steady and held onto the lead. I will use the money to put it back into my surfing to get to the next couple of events in South Africa.
Natasha Van Greunen © Kody McGregor
The men’s final was an insane display of competitive surfing by Luc Lepront from Scottburgh. Lepront smashed two Port Alfred walls, back-to-back with a series of searing backhand turns, to put two scores well into the excellent range on the board. An 8.5 and a 9.33, with a heat total of 17.83
Within the first five minutes of the heat, he put all the other finalists into combination situations. The rest of the finalists, Matt Canning, Luke Slijpen, and Luke Thompson, were left chasing, but minutes ticking away, they were all still in combination situations, needing two new waves apiece.
Slijpen was looking stronger, with a 7.17 score and a 6.50 backup, but it wasn’t enough to get out of the combination situation. As the clock ticked out, it was Luc in front, with Slijpen second, Canning third and a disappointed Thompson in fourth.
Luc Lepront © Kody McGregor
“The heat couldn’t have panned out any better,” said a stoked Lepront.
“I got on the first one, and then I got another absolute bomb, my personal best two waves of the contest. I was patient on the first one, and I knew it would get bigger down the line, so I held back for a bit on it. I didn’t get my timing right in my previous heats, but I got it right at the end, in the final. The prize money is going straight towards my trip to Hawaii!”
Final Results:
Men
1. Luc Lepront R22k
2. Luke Slijpen R10k
3. Matt Canning R5k
4. Luke Thompson R2,5k
Women
1. Natasha Van Greunen R22k
2. Anastasia Venter R10k
3. Louise Lepront R5k
4. Remi Fourie R2,5k
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