Perfect rides take Florence and Slater into the quarter-finals at Volcom Fiji Pro – Surfing news
Hawaii’s John John Florence and America’s Kelly Slater secured their place in the quarter-finals of Volcom Fiji Pro after putting on an outstanding performance to claim victory in their respective Round 4 heats that went down at Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji,
on Tuesday, June 11, 2013.
The pumping six-to-eight foot waves on offer at the main event site was pretty much what the event organisers had hoped to continue the latest day of the current ASP World Championship Tour event in.
Despite the no-elimination nature of the round, the world’s top surfers were determined to collect victory in Round 4, so that they did not have to surf in the fifth round to earn their place in the quarter-finals.
The opening heat of Round 1 saw Florence take on South Africa’s Jordy Smith and Australia’s Taj Burrow in a three-man battle for the coveted quarter-final spot.
It would have been pretty tough to pick a favourite on any other day, but with pumping barrels on offer, the odds were heavily in favour of the young Hawaiian sensation, known for his big-wave riding prowess.
Living up to his reputation, Florence left the crowd and even his rivals stunned with a perfect-10 ride in the early minutes of the heat. He went on to back it up with a 7.43-point ride, thus finishing with a decisive heat-total of 17.43 points.
“I didn’t know what the score was going to be because it was a bit of a smaller wave,” Florence said. “I did a couple of turns and then had the long running barrel on the inside and I was stoked to make it. I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing.
I’ve been going out having fun and I’m going to try and do the same thing in the next round.”
Smith was forced to settle for second place after finishing with a heat-total of 15.43 points, whereas Burrow only managed to get to a heat-total of 12.33 points. Both the surfers were consequently relegated to the fifth round.
The second heat pitted Slater against Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz and France’s Jeremy Flores.
The 41-year-old Florida-based surfer reminded everyone why he and not Florence is the best when it comes to riding big waves.
Locking his first business-wave, Slater posted a perfect 10 on the scoreboard. Not quite done yet, he continued his rampaging performance to add an additional 9.30 points to his account. The intimidating two-wave total of 19.30 points held up until the end,
naturally, to seal the fate of the battle in his favour.
Despite being relieved about getting into the quarter-finals, Slater admitted that he would not have minded getting back into the superb waves for the fifth round too much.
Zietz and Flores were relegated to the fifth round after finishing with a heat-total of 15.16 and 13.30 points respectively.
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