Jordy Smith and Miguel Pupo off to an ideal start at ASP Prime Nike US Open of Surfing
South African powerhouse Jordy Smith and Brazil’s rising star Miguel Pupo walked away with top honours from their respective Round 1 (Round of 96) heats at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Nike US Open of Surfing that went down at the
Huntington Beach in California, America, on Monday, July 30.
America’s Nathaniel Curran and Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia also made it through into the next round of the competition after securing runner-up positions in the fifth and sixth heat respectively.
The opening day of the latest ASP Prime event saw ideal surfing conditions prevailing at Huntington Beach, offering the top surfing talent from around the globe solid waves to showcase their exquisite skills.
Pitted against Curran, France’s Romain Cloitre and Hawaii’s Joel Centeio in the fifth heat, Smith put on a solid performance to emerge triumphant in the four-man bout. The South African phenom scored a 7.67 off his first business-wave and immediately backed
it up with an excellent 9.00-point wave to eventually finish with a heat-total of 16.67 points.
Curran put smiles on the faces of the local crowd as he extended his life in the event by finishing with a heat-total of 12.10 points, which included a 5.83 and 6.27-point ride.
Cloitre finished in third place with a heat-total of 8.64 points, while Centeio had to settle for a bottom finish after registering a heat-total of 7.24 points.
The sixth heat saw Pupo completely steal the show through an exhibition of exquisite aerial tactics and went on to earn one of the highest scores of the day. The Brazilian powerhouse posted a 9.00 on the score-board early in the heat and soon added an additional
9.07 points to his account, thus reaching a heat-total of 18.07 points.
“I knew the waves were kind of slow and there was a long wait in between sets so I was getting everything I could,” Pupo said. “I was looking for the airs because, coming from Brazil, you learn how to get good scores in these types of waves.”
Patacchia survived the opening day of the competition as well after scoring a 7.83 and 5.73 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 13.56 points.
France’s Maxime Huscenot finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.36 points, while Guadeloupe’s Charles Martin had to settle for fourth position after registering a heat-total of 8.53 points. The bottom-two finish resulted in an early ejection from
the competition for both the rivals.
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