Kolohe Andino puts on a superb performance in Round 2 heat at Quiksilver Saquarema Prime
America’s Kolohe Andino secured his spot in the third round (No-:Loser Round of 24) at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime presented by Coca-Cola after clinching top honours in the fifth heat of Round 2 (Round of 48) that continued at the point-break of Itauna
Beach in Saquarema, Brazil, on Wednesday, May 23.
Romain Cloitre of France made it into the next round of the competition as well after putting up an impressive performance for runner-up place. New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand finished third, while France’s Joan Duru had to settle for the last position. Both
the surfers were forced to step out of the contention for the event title.
The waves gracing the primary event site on day 2 of the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME event turned out to be perfect, with glassy four-to-six foot sets coming in occasionally and offering the top surfers from around the world plenty
of opportunities to put their exquisite skills on display.
The fifth heat of Round 2 pitted Andino against Cloitre, Stairmand and Duru in a four-man bout for a place in the next round of the competition.
Andino, the young sensation from California, has a lot of hype surrounding him due to his huge array of tricks and smooth style. Putting that on display for the crowd during his latest heat, the young phenom caught a juicy 8.00-point ride in the opening
minutes of the heat and immediately followed it up with a near-perfect 9.37-point wave, thus finishing with a heat-total of 17.37 points. The score kept him well ahead of his rivals on the score-board, consequently earning him a comprehensive victory.
“Yesterday [Tuesday] the waves were even bigger, but today it’s glassier with perfect sets coming in and I was able to show some of my ability,” said Andino. “I was able to get two good waves and complete some more polished turns. Afterwards, I threw an
air on the rights, but it was nothing special and I’m stoked to make it into the next round because the waves here are so good.”
Cloitre made the Round 3 cut as well after reaching a heat-total of 14.10 points through the only two waves that he managed to catch during the course of the event.
Stairmand scored a 6.20 and 5.60 off his best-two waves to finish in third place, while Duru’s two-wave total of 11.00 points put him in fourth place. The inadequate scores by the two surfers pushed them out of the contention for the event title.
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