Benoit "Piccolo" Clemente won the men's gold at the 2026 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Longboard Championship at El Sunzal. The Peruvian posted a final total of 17.30 points, the highest heat score of the whole event. It was his second ISA world title, seven years after his first in 2019.
A final settled in the first twenty minutes
Clemente set the pace early in the Grand Final. His opening wave scored 8.23, and his second earned 9.07, the best single-wave mark of the championship, built on a hood-ornament hang-ten and a run of sharp rail turns. Both rides came inside the first 20 minutes.
The final brought together three former world champions: Clemente, Tony Silvagni and Edouard Delpero. Delpero, the defending champion, was the favourite to repeat, but the sea then calmed and he could not improve on his 15.73. In the semifinals, Clemente had been the only surfer to push Delpero closely, finishing second with 14.17 to the Frenchman's 14.83.
Silvagni took silver with 16.10, and South Africa's Sam Christianson kept fighting for copper. The contest ran in prime conditions at El Sunzal's right point break, across five days. The win carried extra weight: in 2023 Clemente was forced out in the semifinals by a shorebreak injury at the same beach.
Four world titles and a team bronze for Peru
Counting his WSL World Longboard crowns of 2013 and 2015 and his two ISA golds, Clemente now holds four world longboard titles. Delpero's bronze was his fifth individual WLC medal, drawing level with Clemente and Harley Ingleby in second on the all-time list.
Silvagni, the 2011 champion, collected his fourth WLC medal, while Christianson's copper was South Africa's first since 2013. Peru's team finished third with 2,263 points, behind France (2,665) and the USA (2,650), matching their 2023 bronze. France took its fifth team title.
At 44, Clemente is also one of the sport's most respected board shapers. "I worked hard for this event, and it's my revenge," he said, adding that his life "has been reborn." The win guaranteed him a chance to defend his undefeated Pan American Games record, and he is now preparing for Lima 2027.
