Alejo Muniz and Joel Parkinson claim victory in Round 3 at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
Brazil’s Alejo Muniz and Australia’s Joel Parkinson advanced to the fourth round at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championships Tour, after claiming top honours in their
respective Round 3 heats that went down at Santa Cruz in California, America, on Sunday, November 4.
Muniz got the better of Australia’s Bede Durbidge in the fifth heat to extend his life in the event, while bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
The sixth heat saw America’s Nat Young bow out to Parkinson, allowing the latter to comfortably make his way through into the next round.
Despite the challenging conditions on offer at the main point-break of Steamer Lane on the latest day of the competition, the elite ASP surfers were expected to deliver thrilling performances as they could not afford to settle for anything less than a win.
Pitted against Durbidge in the fifth heat, Muniz wasted no time in getting down to business. Locking his first business-wave, the Brazilian surfer posted a 6.33 on the score-board to grab an early lead and soon backed it up with an impressive 7.00-point
ride, thus moving to a heat-total of 13.33 points.
Durbidge responded with a couple of fives of his best-two waves, thus finishing with a heat-total of 11.30 points, thus getting ejected from the contention for the event title.
The sixth heat saw Parkinson prevail over the Californian young-gun Young.
The Australian powerhouse put his forehand approach on exhibition during the course of the heat and eventually managed to seal the fate of the battle in his favour after scoring a 6.90 and 8.73 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 15.63 points.
“It was pretty cool surfing against Nat (Young),” Parkinson said. “It’s always good to surf against someone who has the whole beach behind them. I get to do it at Snapper, but it’s nice to see someone else get it.”
Young’s performance not too shabby either, but a 4.83 and 7.60 off his best-two waves and the resultant heat-total of 12.43 points just was not good enough on the day.
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