Monteiro, Medina, Coleborn and Lacomare reach the semi-finals – Quiksilver Saquarema Prime 2013
Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro, his compatriot Gabriel Medina, Australia’s Mitchel Coleborn and France’s Marc Lacomare walked away victorious from their respective quarter-finals of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 2013 Quiksilver Saquarema Prime, which recommenced at Itauna beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday, May 26, 2013.
The final day of the competition got underway in three-to-five foot waves, presenting an ideal stage for the in-form surfers to put their exquisite skills on display, while pursuing the coveted ASP Prime ranking points and hefty prize purse that was on offer.
The proceedings of the day kicked-off with Monteiro taking on fellow countryman Jadson Andre in the first quarter-final.
Both the surfers had been in prime form over the last few days and were expected to go hard at each other to ensure their place in the semi-final.
Once the dust settled, however, Monteiro stood victorious with a heat-total of 13.77 points, which included a 7.50 and 6.27-point ride, against his rivals’ two-wave total of 11.17 points.
The next quarter-final pitted Coleborn going head-to-head with his compatriot Dion Atkinson for the semi-final spot.
As the battle got underway, Coleborn made his intentions known without wasting much time. The Australian surfer locked a juicy wave in the opening minutes of the heat to post an 8.67 on the score-board and went on to back it up with an 8.10-point ride, thus registering a two-wave total of 16.77 points.
Atkinson failed to come up with an adequate response to his rival’s superb performance and ended up finishing the heat on a two-wave total of 12.57 points, thus getting forced to make a premature exit from the competition.
Medina, as ASP World Championship Tour contender, took on fellow Brazilian surfer Simao Romao during the third quarter-final.
Both the surfers put on a determined fight, clearly not willing to settle for anything less than a win. Scoring an 8.40 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 5.50-point ride later in the heat, Romao got to a two-wave total of 13.90 points.
Medina, however, surpassed his rival’s efforts by the time the buzzer went-off, finishing with a heat-total of 14.87 points, which comprised of a couple of riders in the seven-point ride.
The last-remaining spot in the semi-final was clinched by Lacomare, as he scored an 8.40 and 7.83 off his top-two waves to register a decisive heat-total of 16.23 to down Basque Country’s Aritz Aranburu, who finished with a heat-total of 11.54 points.
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