Yadin Nicol and Kiron Jabour rule the roost: First round of Super Surf International – Part 8
Super Surf International, the fifth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year, attracted some of the most talented surfers from all over the world to Santa Catarina, Brazil. The first round heats on Tuesday, May 31st,
were completely doing justice to the hype that was associated with the Prime event. There was hardly any surfing fan who could complain about a deficiency of exciting and thrilling contests in the round of 96.
With four-to-six foot waves breaking at Praia da Vila, accompanied by strong offshore winds, the odds were clearly against surfers. It was not easy to ride the intimidating waves at all and the surfers had to really depend on their experience and skills
to hold their own as they competed for a place in the second round of the event.
As the 15th heat kicked off, people were expecting an intense battle between Australia’s Yadin Nicol, South Africa’s Royden Bryson, Spain’s Gony Zubizarreta and Brazil’s David do Carmo. However, nothing could have prepared them for the epic show
that they were about to witness.
Nicol made his excellent form count with his very first wave of the heat, throwing down mind-boggling manoeuvres to compel the judges to give him a perfect 10. The surfer showed no signs of slowing down as he got a hard earned 8.20 points from his second
wave and ended up with a score of 18.20, the highest heat score of round one. Nobody was able to stand up to his remarkable performance, allowing him to comfortably advance to the second round of Super Surf International.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, Nicol said, “I really liked my performance. I was able to get in sync with the waves and that high scoring wave was really fantastic! The judges don't hand out 10's every day, so I was lucky. The long, peeling lefts
helped out too! Even though there's a strong current, it’s great to surf.”
Bryson struggled to catch waves throughout the heat, but eventually finished in second place after managing to get 10.34 points off his two waves. He has also qualified for the round of 48.
Zubizarreta and Carmo rounded out the bottom-two positions with a heat total of 9.94 and 6.34 respectively, consequently getting eliminated from the competition.
In the next heat, Hawaii’s Kiron Jabour took on his compatriot Tinino Benson and the two Brazilians, Leandro Bastos and Caetano Vargas.
Jabour managed to grab a convincing victory after scoring 7.50 points and 8.00 of his first and second wave respectively to finish with a heat total of 15.50 point. Bastos finished in second place with 12.93 points from his two waves and still remains in
contention for the event title.
Both Vargas and Benson have been eliminated from the event after finishing in third and fourth place respectively. Neither of them was able to even get to the 10-point mark.
For more updates on Super Surf International, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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