Australia leads the World after an intense surfing day
USA, France, Brazil and South Africa are also in the running for the Gold medal
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ISA World Surfing Games
October 17, 2008
Costa de Caparica, Portugal
It was an intense day at the ISA World Surfing Games in Costa de Caparica. Inconsistent two to three feet waves made it hard for the 114 surfers that started the day and competed in the five divisions. At the end of the day, 54 surfers survived the very hard competition.
Repercharge heats for all the divisions were held. In the case of some competitors in the Open Men, Open Women and Longboarders, they had to compete in three heats to stay in the competition, just like Spanish warrior Pablo Gutierrez, Aussie wonder Dayyan Neve and local star David Raimundo.
In the Longboard heats, Ben Skinner from Great Britain and Peruvian Piccolo Clemente were the standouts. In Bodyboard, the Portuguese duo (Centeno and Pinheiro), once again, did the right things and they are now one step away from the final.
The upset of the day came when ASP World Tour surfer Claire Bevilacqua from Australia was eliminated by Analí Goméz of Peru and Demi Boelsterli of the US.
There is no country with their full team still in the event. According to the current standings, these are the favourites that are fighting for Team Gold medals:
- 1st Australia
- 2nd USA
- 3rd France
- 4th Brazil
- 5th South Africa
Opens Repercharge marathon
Spanish warrior, Pablo Gutierrez was the surfer of the day. He started his repercharge campaign in the second round and is now sitting in the seventh. Today he won each of the three heats he entered, posting combined scores of 17.23, 14.33 and 18.33 (the highest of his round). He has now guaranteed his name in the top 16.
Similarly, the local star David Raimundo overcame his three round marathon and is now waiting for tomorrow to compete in Repercharge round 7.
A great ASP World Tour match-up was seen today, with Ben Bourgeois (USA) and Dayyan Neve (AUS) facing Steven Pierson (TAH) and Matthew Kruger (ZAF). The top surfers proved why they are part of the Dream Tour and easily made it through.
Bourgeois surfed the highest single wave score of the day - a nice left that was packed with a clean series of off the lips worth 9.67. “I'm feeling good. The conditions are hard and you just got to keep moving and get the good ones. I just tried to catch a lot of waves and two or three of them ended up being good.” Regarding his do or die situation in the repercharge, the US surfer added: “I’m happy just to surf heats instead of sitting around all day. I’d rather be out in the water catching some waves.”
Other surfers that had great performances and made it through were: Charly Martin (FRA), Dillon Perillo (USA), Jason Torres (CRI) and Klee Strachan (ZAF).
Among the Women, the four able to make it through the marathon were: Demi Boelsterli (USA), Analí Gomez (PER), Barbara Muller (BRA) and Armandine Sanchez (FRA).
Boelsterli and Gomez caused the upset of the day by beating ASP World Tour surfer Claire Bevilacqua in a close heat. While Team USA surfer Boelsterli was absolutely ripping and posting the women´s highest combined score (17.00) of the day, Gomez and Bevilacqua fought to the last minute for second place. The Peruvian got the best of it, making a great use of her backhand that was worth 6.5, and left the Aussie star out of the competition.
One step from the final
Portuguese bodyboarders Manuel Centeno and Hugo Pinheiro, were once again the standout in the Bodyboard division making it through both of their heats and reaching the Main Event final. They are now one step away from making history by reaching two back to back ISA World Surfing Games podiums.
They will face Marcus Lima from Brazil and Sasha Specker from South Africa in the final.
In the repercharge rounds, Shane Meehan (IRE), Hayato Enokido (JPN), Pierre Costes (FRA) and David Lee (ZAF) made it into Round 7 and are two steps away from the medal round.
The Women’s Bodyboard Repercharge 5 was defined: Eunate Aguirre (SPA), Lilly Pollard (AUS), Keila Godzen (USA) and Ashleigh Smith (IRE). They are also two steps away from the podium.
British Longboard standout
Runner up in the last ISA World Surfing Games, young British longboarder, Ben Skinner was the star of today’s longboarding repercharge heats, winning his two match-ups with the best rides of the division, scoring 16.66 and 15.44. The other longboarders who overcame the tough heats were Martín Perez (ARG), Benoit Clemente (PER) and Tsukasa Tsujishima (JPN).
Day 7
All the divisions will hit the water on Saturday. The only surfers that will have a rest are the finalists of the Bodyboard Main Event, both men and women.
Live feeds will run from: www.wsg2008.com or via www.isasurf.org
For further info and free high resolution photos, please contact International Surfing Association, Media Manager, Pablo Zanocchi at pablo@isasurf.org -351 910956586-.
Portuguese Media contact: Gonçalo Bettencourt at goncalo.bettencourt@freelance.pt
PHOTOS
Usage-free high quality images each day’s events will be available for worldwide press use at www.wsg2008.com.
About International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected six times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).
