First Rounds of Repechage run in increased, but challenging swell at Praia do Monte Verde
ATTENTION MEDIA:
For daily photos, video highlights and video news releases, visit: http://isaworlds.com/juniors/en/media/
On the third day of the 2016 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship the world’s best junior surfers continued to impress with high performance Surfing in the Azores Islands.
The first Rounds of Repechage ran in increased swell on Monday, however Praia de Monte Verde presented the competitors with challenging conditions, forcing them to fine tune their strategies to find the waves with the highest scoring potential.
The day kicked off with Main Event Rounds in Boys U-18, Boys U-16, Girls U-18 and Girls U-16, advancing the girls into Round 3 and the Boys into Round 2.
USA’s Kade Madson (14.67) and Hawaii’s Brisa Hennessy (15.17), were the stand out performers, earning respectively the highest male and female heat totals in the Main Event on the third day of competition.
Argentina’s Abril Solis, who was unable to stay alive in the U-16 Girls Main Event, spoke after her Round 2 heat.
“I got some good waves in my heat. I was in second place the nearly the whole time, but I was passed in the dying seconds. Now I have to choose better waves with more scoring potential to keep advancing in the Repechage Rounds.
“I am super happy to be competing in this event for the second consecutive year, but I’m nervous at the same time. Every time I go out in the water it pumps me up to represent Argentina, getting rid of my nerves.”
Repechage Rounds in all of the age divisions completed the competition in the afternoon. The onshore wind that had been present through most of the day subsided, creating for improved, but still difficult conditions.
Great Britain’s Jake Elkington made the most of the open faces and marked the highest heat total of the day with a score of 17.27, advancing onto the second Repechage Round for a chance to enter back into the single elimination rounds that will start with Round 3.
Elkington advanced along with Tahiti’s Sacha Levy-Agami (11.94), eliminating Puerto Rico’s Rio Donaldson (8.66) and Ecuador’s Juan Pablo Yanez (6.67) from the competition.
On the female side of the Repechage Rounds, USA’s Malia Osterkamp earned the highest heat total (10.76), avoiding elimination and moving onto the next Round along with Barbados’ Roma Bellori.
New Zealand’s Elliot Brown advanced through the first Round of U-16 Boys Repechage and shared his thoughts post heat.
“It’s pretty hard being in the Repechage Rounds. There is no going back so you have to give your all. I was bit stressed out to be honest, but you have to find the waves and do the best you can.
“This is my first time representing New Zealand in this competition and it has been great. I’m enjoying it and hopefully I can make some heats and keep going.”
ISA President Fernando Aguerre, said:
“The Repechage Rounds are never easy, the competition tends to be fierce and heated. While the Repechage Rounds are difficult, they are not impossible. We have seen many of our Gold Medalists get off to slow starts only to find their groove in the Repechage Round and go on to be World Champions.
“I am keeping a close eye on the extreme talent that these junior surfers possess, knowing the fact that these could be the future stars of Olympic Surfing at Tokyo 2020.”
Surfline, the official forecaster, is predicting continued waist to chest high swell for Tuesday, September 19. A new long period swell will begin to fill in during the afternoon and provide larger, overhead surf for Wednesday, September 20.
View the full Surfline forecast here: http://isaworlds.com/juniors/2016/en/surfline-forecast/
The full results from the first day of competition can be viewed here: http://isaworlds.com/juniors/2016/en/results/
The schedule for the fourth day of competition is the following:
Podium 1
- 8:00am – 10:00am: 8 heats Repechage Round 2 Girls U-18
- 10:00am – 12:30pm: 10 heats Repechage Round 1 Boys U-16
- 12:30pm – 6:30pm: 18 Main Event Round 2 Boys U-16
Podium 2
- 8:00am – 10:00am: 8 heats Repechage Round 2 Girls U-16
- 10:00am – 12:30pm: 10 heats Repechage Round 1 Boys U-18
- 12:30pm – 5:50pm: 16 heats Main Event Round 2 Boys U-18
Times in Azores Standard Time.
Tune in to watch the live action on www.isaworlds.com.
