Costa Mesa, CA (January 6, 2008): Considered hands down the most prestigious Junior event in the world, the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships at North Narrabeen, Australia have played host to the world's top shelf 20 and under talent. Rip Curl teammates Pauline Ado and Bethany Hamilton dismantled the tough field of international competitors to emerge first and second respectively.

For Ado, she etched herself in the history books as the only French surfer to ever win an ASP World Title. Simultaneously, she is the only non-Aussie female to ever win the ASP World Junior Championships.

“I'm speechless,” Ado said. “I am so stoked. This is a dream come true. I can't believe that I won. When I woke up this morning, I never imagined that this would happen.”

For Bethany, this marked one of the greatest feats in her decorated surfing career. After just barely missing out on ASP Women's World Tour qualification after an amazing rookie year on the WQS, Bethany roared back in this event with a vengeance.

“I'm really happy with my performance at this event,” Hamilton said. “To make the Final is really good for me. I haven't had a good result in a while so hopefully this will give me some confidence for the rest of the year. I think my nerves got the better of me in the Final. I should've made a couple of turns where I fell. I'm kind of bummed about that last wave, but I guess that's surfing.”

Rip Curl congratulates Pauline and Bethany, and look for these two talented ladies to light up the 2009 WQS tour with ASP World Tour qualification on their minds. For more on these two, check out http://www.ripcurl.com.