Javier Swayne and Leon Vicuna emerge triumphant in Round 1 at Arica World Star Tour
Peru’s Javier Swayne and Chile’s Leon Vicuna emerged triumphant in their respective Round 1 (Round of 80) heats at the Arica World Star Tour, a 3-Star Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) event presented by Maui and Son, which continued at El Gringo
in Arica, Chile, on Wednesday, June 13.
Success in the third heat of Round 1 served to carry Swayne into the second round (Round of 64). Chile’s Leonardo Acevedo joined him in the next round after claiming runner-up position. His compatriot Danilo Cerda and Brazil’s Ulisses Meira rounded out the
third and fourth positions respectively, consequently getting removed from the competition field.
The fourth heat saw Vicuna claim top honours to confirm his place in the next round. His fellow countryperson Diego Medina successfully extended his life in the event as well through his second-place finish. Ecuador’s Daniel Guerreiro and Chile’s Francisco
Alvarez failed to make the Round 2 cut following the bottom-two finish.
A huge list of promising surfing talent from around the globe had arrived at Arica to avail the opportunity of getting their hands on a prize cheque of $55,000 and coveted ASP ranking points. The surfing conditions prevailing at the event site turned out
to be pretty demanding, keeping the surfers on the back-foot.
As the third heat got underway, Swayne wasted very little time before posting a 6.00 and 3.00 on the score-board to reach a heat-total of 9.00 points. The score, while non-intimidating, remained unbeatable until the end of the heat to see him off to victory.
Acevedo put up a pretty ordinary performance for a heat-total of 5.50 points after scoring a mere 2.50 and 3.00 off his best-two waves. However, the effort proved sufficient enough to take him through into the next round.
Cerda and Meira finished with a heat-total of 2.70 and 2.50 points respectively. The lacklustre performances and consequent results led to their removal from the competition field.
The fourth heat ended the drought of big scores as Vicuna put on a phenomenal performance to utterly dominate his rivals. The Chilean surfer opened his account with an 8.75-point ride and later added an additional 8.40 points to his account, thus finishing
with a heat-total of 17.15 points.
Medina got hold of a promising 8.00-point wave, but only managed to back it up with a 2.75-point ride to finish with a heat-total of 10.75 points, a score that turned out to be adequate to get him through into Round 2.
Guerreiro and Alvarez found themselves making an early exit from the competition after only managing to register a heat-total of 2.75 and 0.65 points in their first heat of the competition.
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