Last month, Pacific Beach’s Greg Lazarus rode an artificial wave to his first Overall Team Championship at the International FLOW Championship (IFC) in Singapore. Team USA, comprised of Lazarus, Point Loma’s Eric Silverman, Salt Lake City’s Kristen Barney (formerly of San Diego) and Dallas’ Tyler Danek, brought home the title after a three-day competition that ended Oct. 31. “The IFC is the event that will grow the sport of flowboarding to new levels,” said Lazarus, 29. “It’s a platform in which the top riders in the world are competing in one place. It’s what the sport needs.” Lazarus participated in three events at this year’s IFC: the flowrider, the strapped flowbarrel and the strapless flowbarrel. He finished second in each of his events. Lazarus compares flowriding to snowboarding and said the main focus is keeping weight shifted on your back foot. The sport is also compared to wakeboarding, surfing and snowboarding and was created by San Diegan Tom Lochtefeld, founder and CEO of Wave House. Wave House San Diego played a heavy role in Team USA’s title. Not only did Lazarus secure his spot on the team in September at the IFC qualifier, which took place there, but the Team USA foursome were all riders at Wave house San Diego. Lazarus said being the best of their specific divisions brought them together. Three years later, the squad has the hardware to show off. “Eric, Tyler, Kristen and myself put a lot of hard work into bringing back that trophy,” Lazarus said. In addition to being a champion, Lazarus, originally from Durban, South Africa, also considers himself a pioneer of the sport. “Well, I would like to believe that I have had a small influence in the growth [of flowriding],” Lazarus said. “I started riding back in 2001 and went on the Siemens Mobile [Wave] Tour and was one of the first professional riders in the sport. Since then, I have dedicated my time and moved to the states to work for Wave Loch and help market and grow the sport wherever possible. And, hopefully I will be doing that for the rest of my life.” Places like Wave House San Diego and competitions like IFC could turn his dream into reality. “Every venue that opens up has a potential to breed new riders, which they do, but at the end of the day its events like the IFC that really project the sport to a new level,” Lazarus said. “And, I am confident that every year the sport will get bigger and better.”