Blair Conklin: hitting the Portuguese ramps of Santa Cruz | Photo: Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit

Blair Conklin has taken out the 2017 Internacional de Skimboard, in Santa Cruz, Portugal.

The 2016 United Skim Tour (UST) champion returned to the Portuguese shore breaks and grabbed an important win. The event had challenging wave conditions, but the riders kept the bar raised high.

In the final against Afonso Ruiz, João Girbal, and Juan Luis, the American skimboarder posted a near-perfect score of 19 points.

"I am very happy. I love the atmosphere that you live here among the skimboarding community. I was here last year, and it's great to see the number of people involved in this growing sport," expressed Blair Conklin.

Xoxe Maria Conde (Open Women), Rodrigo Haberfeld (Under 18), Aidan Stevenson (Under 14), Chester Burnett (Senior), and Chris van der Merwe (Masters) also won their divisions.

The Internacional de Skimboard is one of the longest running skimboarding events in Europe. The first edition was held in 2003. This year, the contest is part of the 2017 UST calendar.

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