Kai Otton and Nicholas Squires surge into Round 3 at the Australian Open of Surfing
Australia’s Kai Otton and Nicholas Squires emerged triumphant in their respective Round 2(Round of 96) heats during the Men’s Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star division at Australian of Surfing Open on Thursday, February 16, at Manly Beach
in New South Wales, Australia.
While Otton prevailed in the 16th heat to confidently advance through to Round 3 (Round of 48), Hawaii’s Olamana Eleogram successfully extended his life in the event as well by securing runner-up place. Japan’s Kenta Hayashi and Australia’s Garrett
Parkes were forced to make a premature exit from the competition after finishing in third and fourth place respectively.
American Luke Davis’ runner-up finish behind Squires in the 17th heat carried him into the next round as well. However, the third and fourth place finish by South African Michael February and Hawaii’s Koa Smith kept them from making the Round
3 cut.
Otton’s performance during the 16th heat was nothing short of impressive. Putting his local knowledge of the waves to use, he navigated towards two really juicy waves to post a 6.50 and 7.60 on the score-board. The resultant heat-total of 14.10
points turned out to be a decisive one and thus earned him a spot in the next round.
Eleogram got off to a promising start as well, scoring a 7.67 off his first business-wave. However, he struggled to back it up with another good score and had to settle for second place after adding a 5.43 to his account.
Hayashi and Parkes finished with a heat-total of 12.00 and 9.47 points. The heat demanded a bit more from them, but they failed to rise up to the challenge and thus got eliminated.
The 17th heat featured a nail-biting battle between Squires and Davis as both the surfers fought tooth and nail for a place in the next round. The Australian got down to business early in the heat, scoring a 6.83 off his first business-wave and
immediately backing it up with a 6.40-point wave to get to a heat-total of 13.23 points.
However, Davis responded strongly with a 5.93 and a 6.70-point wave a few minutes later. He remained on a look-out for another juicy wave to improve his score a little, but the wait never ended and thus he had to settle for runner-up place.
February and Smith finished with a heat-total of 12.00 and 7.20 respective, consequently getting removed from the contention for the event title.
The Australian Open of Surfing still had a number of Round 2 heats to go before the organisers called it a day.
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