Gabriel Medina and Travis Logie find their way into the quarter-finals at O’Neill Coldwater Classic
Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and South Africa Travis Logie recovered from a Round 4 loss at the O’Neill Coldwater Classic, the ninth of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, by claiming top spot in their respective
Round 5 heats at Santa Cruz in California, America, on Tuesday, November 6.
Medina earned his place in the quarter-finals by defeating his fellow countryperson Alejo Muniz in the opening heat of Round 5, removing the latter from the contention for the event title as a result.
The second heat saw Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro failing to keep Logie from clinching the win, thus surrendering the quarter-final spot to his rival while getting eliminated from the competition as a result.
On some days, it is easy to surf and put on an amazing show, while on others, it is extremely tough. As it turned out, the day the fate of the latest elite tour event was to be decided ended up being the latter, putting the skills and experience of the best
in the business to test.
Medina, an emerging force, found himself taking on Muniz in a man-on-man battle for the quarter-final spot during the first heat of Round 5. Both the surfers had failed to make a solid impact during their most recent heat and therefore needed to grab a win
in order to keep themselves alive in the competition.
As the battle got underway, Muniz got down to business straight away, earning a 5.00 off his first ride and immediately backing it up with a mediocre 1.70-point wave, thus moving to a heat-total of 6.70 points.
Medina, however, responded extremely well to the situation and ended up clinching a comfortable win after registering a heat-total of 13.16 points, which included a 6.83 and 6.33-point ride.
The second heat saw a relatively low-scoring heat as Logie and Monteiro tried to out-perform each other in demanding conditions.
The South African surfer eventually managed to land on top of his rival after scoring a 6.83 and 3.67 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 10.50 points, while Monteiro concluded the heat with a heat-total of 8.90 points, which comprised of a 3.00 and
5.90-point ride.
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