Alana Blanchard and Carissa Moore claim Round 1 success at Vans US Open of Surfing – Surfing news
Hawaii’s Alana Blanchard and her fellow countryperson Carissa Moore walked away with top honours from their respective Round 1 heats of the Vans US Open of Surfing, the sixth of eight stops on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals
(ASP) Women’s World Championship Tour, which got underway at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Tuesday, July 23, 2013.
Blanchard got the better of her compatriot Leila Hurst and Australia’s Tyler Wright in the third heat to secure her place in the third round, while sending both her rivals into the relegation round.
Moore, on the other hand, claimed a convincing victory over Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich and New Zealand’s Paige Hareb in the fourth heat to advance directly to Round 3. Both her rivals, however, were forced to take a trip to Round
2 to have another shot at a place in the third round.
With peaky two-to-four foot waves gracing the primary event site on the opening day of the latest female elite tour event, a series of thrilling performances and intense battles were expected.
Pitted against Wright, current No.1 on the ASP Women’s World Championship Tour rankings, and Hurst in the third heat, Blanchard had a tough battle on her hands.
Rather than giving in to pressure, the Hawaiian surfer used it as a motivation to push herself even harder during the heat. Managing to find a 6.33 and 6.10 during her hunt for a couple of decent scores, she finished with a heat-total
of 12.43 points, which served to seal the fate of the battle in her favour.
Wright did not look her usual self and only managed to get to a heat-total of 11.90 points, thus having to settle for second place. Hurst finished third after registering a two-wave total of 9.54 points.
The fourth heat saw Moore, a former ASP Women’s World Champion and current No.2 on the elite tour rankings, lock horns with Mulanovich and Hareb in a three-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
The 20-year-old secured a commanding victory after putting on a dominating performance, which featured an 8.67 and 7.20-point ride for a resultant heat-total of 15.87 points.
“I just got done surfing my first heat here and I didn’t feel that good, but it was good to just surf a heat,” Moore said. “I haven’t surfed a heat since Brazil, so it’s been about two months and I’m just happy to have the jersey
on again.”
Mulanovich finished in second place with a heat-total of 13.93 points, while Hareb had to settle for third place after concluding the heat on a two-wave total of 10.43 points.
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