Rip Curl International Qualifier Leah Lepront Carries South Africa to the World Stage
At an age when many of her peers are still working out where they fit, Leah Lepront is already carrying South Africa on her own. The goofy-footed surfer from the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast has won back-to-back under-16 titles at the Rip Curl GromSearch in Port Alfred, and the most recent of them, claimed on Monday, 6 April 2026, booked her a place at the Rip Curl International Finals later this year.
As gsport marks Youth Month, Leah Lepront is a clear sign of how deep the next wave of South African women’s surfing is running.
Her story starts where the best surfing stories tend to, in the water with family. Leah Lepront was put on a board by her older brother Luc Lepront at the age of seven, after the family came through Nippers, the cluster of ocean sports run on the beach. When Luc Lepront started surfing, her sister Louise Lepront followed, and Leah Lepront went after both of them. “They were surfing, so I’d want to be just like them,” she says.
“So then we all ended up on the boards, and just loved it from the word go.”
Accomplished SA Junior Surf Star, Leah Lepront
Sharing the sport does not mean going easy on one another. Leah Lepront and Louise Lepront regularly meet on the same podium, and at Port Alfred in 2025 it was Louise Lepront who edged her younger sister in the under-18 final. “It’s very fun to be able to do heats with her. We kind of always just work together,” she says. “She will always want to try beat me. But I’m always just in it for fun.”
Watching her sister has shaped her ambition. Louise Lepront has won the SA Open and surfed on the Challenger, and Leah Lepront wants to walk the same road. “It’s very inspirational to see Louise getting onto the Challenger at the age of 16,” she says. “So I definitely want to follow in her footsteps, and now, starting international competitions, I’m getting there.”
The style runs in the family too. All three of the Lepront siblings ride goofy, surfing backside on the long right-hand points where so much South African competition is held. “All three of us are backhand goofies, so I can always kind of copy my siblings,” she says. “They are of course that much better than me, so I always want to just stay up there with them.”
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That patience showed in the win that took her through to the world stage. Her 2025 Port Alfred victory came down to a 5.93 in the closing minutes of a slow, low-scoring final. “That day it was very slow and very hard to get scores for all of us girls,” she says. “But if you got on the right set and you were able to close it out, you could get the score. So that’s all I was focusing on. I wasn’t going to go on any of the smaller waves.” When the set arrived, she took it. “When the set came, just capitalise.”
She is now a two-time national junior champion, having won the under-12 title in 2022 and the under-14 title in 2024, and the back-to-back under-16 GromSearch titles have followed.
Asked which means the most, she does not hesitate. “I think it would have to be my latest one,” she says, “because it got me the ticket into the international finals later this year.” The goal had been personal. “My sister got to do it and I was just near getting into it last year and I just missed it. So that was my goal for this year.”
The Rip Curl International Finals will be staged later this year, with the date and venue still to be confirmed, and only one South African girl earns the place. “Only one of us gets picked to do it. So I’m carrying South Africa on my own,” she says.
“I hope to get through a couple of heats, maybe make the finals, but I’m not going to think about it much. Just take it heat at a time.”
Behind the results is a way of life that few teenagers would recognise. Leah Lepront is homeschooled, which lets the family chase waves and events the length of the country. “Homeschooling is definitely a big advantage because it’s very flexible,” she says.
“So when the waves are good, we can just surf all day and then catch up on the schoolwork a bit later on.” The car is always full. “It’s always the four of us crammed in the car, so we’re always making memories on the road. We just did a 16-hour drive together.”
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Her coach for this season is family as well. Her brother Luc Lepront breaks down her surfing frame by frame. “We’ll always sit down with the laptop together and go through footage, and he’ll teach me through turns and every wave, kind of what I’m doing right, what I’m doing wrong.” She represents eThekwini at the SA Championships. “I love eThekwini,” she says. “I’m very close with the organisers and the other people on the team.”
Leah Lepront has already tested herself against the senior field, finishing fourth at the 2025 SA Open women’s event. “I do go to all these open and older women’s events to go up against them just to get experience,” she says.
Her message to the girls coming up behind her, in Youth Month and beyond, is the same one that has carried her this far. “Don’t take any pressure, just have lots of fun, because when you’re having fun, you’re always surfing your best,” she says. And on Youth Day, her words are simple.
“If it’s what you really want, just don’t give up, because you can get it done. If you believe in yourself, you’ll get it done.”
Main Photo Caption: Leah Lepront, the goofy-footed surfer from the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, has won back-to-back under-16 titles at the Rip Curl GromSearch in Port Alfred and booked her place at the Rip Curl International Finals, marking her out as one of the brightest names in South African women’s surfing this Youth Month. All Photos: Supplied
Photo 2 Caption: From a close surfing family, Lepront regularly shares national podiums with her elder sister, Louise Lepront.
Photo 3 Caption: Now competing in eThekwini colours, Lepront counts herself fortunate to be guided by her brother and coach, Luc Lepront.
Photo 4 Caption: A two-time national junior champion, Lepront won her under-12 title in 2022 and her under-14 in 2024.
Crédito: Link de origem
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