Keanu Asing of 'Ewa is one year older and light years better than the surfer he was last year.

He has a world championship to prove it.

Asing won the Boys 16 division of the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship yesterday.

The final day of the prestigious eight-day event was run in 3- to 4-foot waves at Salinas, Ecuador.

Hawai'i had the lead in the overall team standings at the start of the day, but ultimately finished second. Australia, which had two individual champions, won it for the fourth consecutive year.

At last year's world junior championship, Asing was the first Hawai'i surfer eliminated. This year, he was the last one standing.

"This is the biggest thing I have ever won," said Asing, who is 15 and a sophomore at Elite Element Academy.

He did it the hard way, coming out of the repechage bracket. The contest follows a double-elimination format, and Asing lost a heat in the fourth round of the winners bracket earlier in the week.

He then had to advance through five win-or-go-home repechage heats over the course of three days to reach the final.

"I am so stoked to have pulled through the repechages," he said. "I think the loss in round four actually helped me. It made me more charged up and more focused. I knew I had to get good waves because every heat could have been my last."

Asing saved his best performance for his last heat.

His two-wave total score of 17.54 (out of 20) in the final heat was his best performance all week.

Asing took the lead with a score of 8.5 with about 10 minutes remaining, then secured the win with a near-perfect 9.04 a few minutes later.

Brazil's Gabriel Medina was a close second with a two-wave score of 17.38.

Asing is the second surfer from Hawai'i to win an individual championship in the seven-year history of the world junior championship. Tonino Benson of the Big Island won the Boys 16 division in 2005.

The contest is considered the world championship for surfers age 18 and younger.

Several other Hawai'i surfers fared well at the event.

Alessa Quizon of Makaha reached the final of the Girls 18 division and finished third.

Dylan Goodale of Kaua'i made the final in the Boys 18 division and placed fourth.

Also, Kaimana Jaquias of Kaua'i placed sixth in the Boys 16 division, and Leila Hurst of Kaua'i placed fifth in the Girls 18 division.

Australia's Dean Bowen won the Boys 18 division. Another Australian, Tyler Wright, won the Girls 18 division.

The contest started with more than 260 surfers representing 28 countries/regions.

Hawai'i is recognized as its own region for the contest because of its storied history in the sport. A separate United States team placed fourth in the team standings.