John John Florence and Julian Wilson qualify for quarter-finals at Nike US Open of Surfing
Hawaii’s John John Florence and Australia’s Julian Wilson successfully secured a place in the quarter-finals at the Nike US Open of Surfing after claiming top honours in their respective Round 8 (Round of 16) heats that went down at Huntington Beach in California,
America, on Saturday, August 4.
Florence got the better of his compatriot Keanu Asing in the seventh heat to advance to the next stage of the competition, removing his competitor from the contention for the event title.
The eighth heat saw America’s Brett Simpson bow out to Wilson in the eighth heat, consequently getting eliminated from the competition while sending his rival into the quarter-finals.
With high-performance surfing conditions on hand at the main event site, the day promised to deliver a series of enthralling performances as the top surfing talent from around the globe got set to take each other on in battle for a spot in the quarter-finals.
The seventh heat featured Florence and Asing in a one-on-one battle. Both the surfers had been in an impressive form over the last few days and their showdown was expected to be nothing short of electrifying.
As the battle got underway, the 19-year-old Florence got off to an energetic start and after going through a series of average scores, he caught a juicy wave to post a 7.77 on the score-board. Keeping the momentum going, he went on to add an additional 8.93
points to his account, thus reaching a heat-total of 16.70 points.
Asing responded with a solid performance of his own, earning a 6.00 and 8.10 off his best-two waves, but the combined total just was not enough to see him through to victory, thus marking the end of the competition for him.
“I haven’t surfed against him (Keanu Asing) in awhile and he’s really good in these waves, so I was nervous,” Florence said. “I think everyone that makes it to the final day wants to win. It’s such a crazy event with so many people here and I’d love to take
this one.”
The contest for the last remaining quarter-final spot took place between Wilson and Simpson. The battle went down to the wire, with both surfers refusing to give in.
Making use of his local knowledge of the waves, Simpson posted a 7.50 on the score-board in the opening minutes of the heat and soon backed it up with a 6.50-point ride, reaching a heat-total of 14.00 points.
Wilson was in no mood to settle for anything less than a victory and thus put on a supercharged performance, collecting a 6.00 off his first business-wave and backing it up with an 8.93-point ride in the dying minutes of the heat to finish with a heat-total
of 14.93 points, thus walking away with the win.
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