Conditions were epic for the Taghazout Bay Morocco Pro 2025 finals day, with waves reaching up to 6ft and some strong offshore winds, creating long right-handers in Anza Beach where the bodyboarders put on a show.
The competition kicked off early with the remaining three Heats of the Round 7 of the Pro Men’s Division. A few hours later the semi finals were set for both divisions.
Women’s semis were the first to get underway. Two-time world champion Alexandra Rinder (Austria) is in great form and proved it again, taking first place in the Heat and securing another final in her career. Filipa Broeiro couldn’t make it this time but earned a well-deserved third place.
The second heat was won by Japanese Namika Yamashita, who’s getting stronger day by day and managed to score 11.85 under tough rip conditions. Joana Schenker, also from Portugal, missed the chance to advance to the final and had to settle for third.
On the men’s side, the first semifinal had Brazil’s Uri Valadão going up against local star Chajri Badr Eddine. Uri, world champion in 2008, snagged the first 10-point-ride of the event and pointed an impressive total score of 18.00 points.
The second semifinal saw a matchup between the number 2 and number 3 in the world. In the end Pierre-Louis Costes, from France, took an easy win with a total of 16.00 points, leaving Brazil’s Gabriel Braga (who won the event last year) in second and an overall 3rd place.
Next up was the women final. Namika Yamashita proved she deserves to be among the world elite and triumphed over Alexandra Rinder. For the Japanese this was the second victory of her career.
The men had a thrilling final with waves getting bigger and bigger. The showdown was incredibly close between Uri Valadão, age 39, and PLC, age 35, but the Brazilian scored another 10 points, being the only one to do so, showing an amazing connection with the ocean.
In the remaining two minutes, Uri executed an incredible backflip followed by a solid invert that had the crowd cheering. Pierre scored a solid 16.15 combined score but couldn’t take the win since his rival was absolutely on fire. The Frenchman walks away with second place.
“What a great sensation! It’s really good to taste win again! This is a special conquest to me, a memorable day. I was looking for an important win like this for a few years now. I guess I was very focused on this event, I’ve trained a lot, I was prepared. It was an epic ending! It is hard to describe!”, said the new world tour leader, Uri Valadão.
