Nathan Yeomans and Cory Lopez make it to Saquarema Pro International’s round of 24
The Saquarema Pro International continued with the fourth heat of round of 48 on Thursday, May 26th, at Itauna beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The heat featured America’s Nathan Yeomans battling it out with his compatriot, Cory Lopez, Spain’s Aritz Aranburu and Australia’s Stu Kennedy for the win and a place in the next stage of the event, the round of 24.
Coming up with an impressive performance, Yeomans walked away with a convincing victory over his rivals. Lopez finished in second place to advance to the next round of the competition as well.
Aranburu and Kennedy rounded out the bottom two positions and find themselves out of the event title contention.
The tides turned out to be low at Itauna beach, with hardly two-to-three foot waves on offer, not to mention the offshore winds adding to the misery of the surfers. However, there was nothing the athletes could do but to try and adjust to the conditions
and attempt to impress the judges.
None of the surfers in the fourth heat got used to the conditions as well as Yeomans. While the rest looked completely lost in sea, searching for decent waves and giving off a rather shaky performance, Yeomans managed to hold his own. He ended up with a
total score of 14.24 from his two waves, which remained unbeatable through the course of the heat and eventually confirmed him as the winner.
Even though Lopez’s performance was nothing to write home about, getting him a mere 11.77, it was still enough to land him in second place and keep him in the event title contention by securing a spot for him in the round of 24.
Spain’s Aranburu and Australia’s Kennedy looked equally confused and helpless during the contest. Their disappointing performances earned them a two-wave score of 10.80 and 10.60 respectively, though one can hardly blame them for not earning a higher score
after taking the conditions into account. Both surfers have been eliminated from the competition.
Saquarema Pro international is presented by Coca Cola and Oakley and is the fourth Association of surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year.
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