Evan Geiselman and Joel Parkinson steal the show in Round 4 of the Australian Open of Surfing
America’s Evan Geiselman and Australia’s Joel Parkinson claimed victory in the opening heats of Round 4 (Round of 24) at the Australian Open of Surfing at Manly Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday, February 17.
The light on-shore winds and two-foot waves prevailing at the primary event site kept testing the surfers as they sought to keep themselves alive in the competition.
The first heat of Round 4 saw featured an intense battle between Geiselman and Brazil’s Alex Ribeiro, with both the surfers putting on a determined performance to earn their spot in Round 5 (Round of 16).
Ribeiro drew first blood with a 7.77-point wave, but Geiselman soon edged past him with a 6.67 and 7.20-point wave. The Brazilian kept hunting for another decent wave, but failed to get his hands on one and thus was forced to settle for runner-up place with
a heat-total of 13.64 points, 0.23 points behind his American rival. Both the surfers advanced through to the next round.
America’s Nat Young was the third surfer in the three-man heat. He got off to a promising start as well, scoring a 7.83 off his first wave and following it up with a 5.20-point wave. However, he was unable to improve his score and thus got eliminated from
the competition.
The second heat saw Parkinson put on a solid performance in the afternoon. Unloading a series of exquisite manoeuvres, which included a big air-reverse, he collected a 7.90 and 7.07 off his best-two waves to finish with a heat-total of 14.97 points. As a
result, he comfortably advanced through to the next round.
“It's crazy sitting in the water and looking back at a packed out beach,” Parkinson said after the heat. “The surf is small but we're all dealing with the same conditions, I actually caught some fun ones. I'm a bit of a momentum builder, I don't want to
surf my best heat in the first or second round, I want to try and peak towards the end.”
The young American phenom Kolohe Andino survived the heat as well after securing runner-up place with a 4.50 and 6.17-point wave.
Australia’s Shaun Cansdell failed to make much of an impact during the three-man battle and thus ended up getting eliminated after finishing in third place with a heat-total of 10.27 points.
The exciting surfing action continued at Manly Beach with the remaining heats of Australian Open of Surfing’s Round 4.
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