Surfing
Surfer Justine Dupont has been riding the crest of a wave in recent months. Literally and figuratively. The French woman is at the top of her game and has the medals and records to show for it.
In the past six months Justine Dupont has been crowned a new Stand Up Paddleboard world champion, won a world longboard surfing silver medal, picked up the Women's Heavy Water accolade at the 2019 Surfing Awards and also rode what could potentially be the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman.
She only had three days of training in her bid to add a SUP world title to her growing list of accomplishments, but still found her feet fast enough to help her country win team gold (with men's champion Benoit Carpentier) on December 1 at the 2019 Surf City El Salvador ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championship.
Not only that, she rode a mind-blowing swell on November 13 in Nazaré, Portugal, estimated to be between 21 and 23 metres high to potentially lay claim to the honour of surfing the biggest wave ever by a woman.
At just 28, it's fair to say the Bordeaux native is already one of the best all-round watersports athletes of her generation. Whatever the discipline or the conditions, as long as there's a wave, Dupont makes magic happen.
I still have many sports to experience and world championship titles to get
She revealed: "Just two years ago, I had never been on a stand-up paddleboard. I had to learn how to ride with a paddle (she went on to earn a 2017 world SUP silver medal). I have to admit that this year SUP was not my main focus. I was in Nazaré, surfing big waves. I didn't train for SUP at all and, three days before the competition, I wasn't even sure I could stand on the board, but I decided to rise to the challenge anyway and it worked out with the first individual SUP world title of my career."
Switching from one discipline to another is second nature for Dupont, who added: "When I was younger, with my parents, I used to go to the ocean with a skimboard, a bodyboard, a surfboard and a longboard. I didn't want to choose. I used to ride with the board that fitted the best with the conditions.
"One week the press will say that I'm a big wave rider, then the week after, I'll be a longboarder or a stand-up paddleboarder. It makes me smile."
Dupont, who reached her first World Championship podium at just 15-years-old in longboard, knows that dealing with the ocean can be a dramatic game, as a huge crash during the final of the 2018 Jaws Challenge in Hawaii saw her suffer a dislocated knee and broken shoulder.
I'd like to ride tubes at Teahupoʻo, slabs in Australia and I'd love to paddle some really big waves at Jaws
After a recovery that took her five months, she was back in April with extra motivation and ready to accomplish a set of records no woman has ever done before in watersport history.
In terms of trying even more new disciplines, she enthused: "I still have many sports to experience and world championship titles to get. I can also think about the Olympics in 2020 (she is already ISA Athletes' Commission Chair for the competition). Why not!”
What really motivates Dupont, though, is to surf the most beautiful waves. She declared: "I'd like to ride tubes at Teahupoʻo (Tahiti), slabs in Australia and I'd love to paddle some really big waves in Jaws." The ultimate water woman bucket list is still growing.
