Kolohe Andino tames demanding conditions to oust Josh Kerr from Quiksilver Pro France
California had been quite dry for some years in terms of promising surfing talent, but the drought had come to an end with the recent breed of young guns, which include Kolohe Andino.
Competing in his first-ever Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, the 18-year-old American had quite a lot of hopes attached to him despite being so young. The expectations were not without merit though, as he had proved his
mettle in numerous events across the globe, which had subsequently earned him his place among the elite ranks.
Getting an opportunity to live his dream, Andino was unable to fully capitalise on it for the first half of the 2012 version of the elite tour, making early exits from the competitions to find himself sitting really low in the rankings.
However, there was still plenty of reason to keep pushing hard as a few good results was going to secure his place in next year’s World Championship Tour.
Arriving at France to compete in Quiksilver Pro France, the Californian young gun was pumped up to make the most of the latest opportunity on hand, though he knew wins would not come easily as he was up against the best in the business.
The opening day of the event at La Graviere did not go his way as he succumbed to Brazil’s Alejo Muniz despite putting on an impressive performance.
The defeat forced him into the relegation round to surf again for a place in the third round.
Pitted against him in the relegation round was Australia’s Josh Kerr, who was also part of his Round 1 heat against Muniz.
The huge crowd in attendance expected an exciting battle despite Kerr possessing far more experience than the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour rookie.
As the battle got underway on October 2, Andino wasted no time to justify all the hype that had surrounded him prior to the start of the 2012 ASP World Tour as well as live up to the high expectations that his fans had of him.
The American adapted to the four-to-six foot waves right away and locked a juicy barrel to unload a series of exciting tricks to earn an 8.07 for the effort.
The conditions continued to become harder as the heat progressed, allowing him to only add an additional 1.03 points to his account. As a result, he finished with a heat-total of 9.10 points.
Kerr, current ASP World Championship Tour World No.7, was the favourite to win the heat and the score registered by his rival hardly seemed enough to keep him at bay.
However, the 28-year-old Australian only managed to get his hands on a couple of twos, thus finishing with a heat-total of 4.90 points. The lacklustre performance resulted in his elimination from the competition and gave Andino his first win since returning
from injury.
“Josh (Kerr) is one of the best guys out here in these conditions so I just had a plan to go out and hunt good tubes because I was certain he would get some,” Andino said. “I took some beatings out there. It’s super gnarly, but I managed to get a pretty
clean right and come out while Josh struggled to find a rhythm. Pumped to get through a heat again and hope I can just keep going.”
Andino may have survived a very tough heat in Round 2, but his work was far from over as he now had Australia’s Taj Burrow to worry about, who was waiting to take him on in the third heat.
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