| ISA U/16 World Junior Champion Filipe Toledo (BRA) claimed the highest heat total of the day, and his Teahupo’o career, to defeat Billy Stairmand (NZL). In the final heat of the day, the 29-year-old father of two clicked into gear, casually driving through barrels to earn a 9.67 and 7.33 for a 17.00 heat total. The two-time WSL World Champion entered the lineup with a solid game plan and it paid off.
“That was the strategy since I woke up this morning,” Toledo said. “Give him a little bit of hassle at the start, get that inside position and not leave that inside position until I’ve got a good score. It cost me in the first round. That was a mistake that I did, and I didn’t want to do that again. I ended up getting the 7 and then Billy [Stairmand] backed it up with the 8 and I was like, oh man, here we go. And then, when I had priority, I was like ok, I’m not leaving the lineup until I get a bomb and that bomb came my way, and yeah, just blessed to get that barrel and the win.”
A classic west bowl Teahupo’o barrel that included a foamball ride earned Jack Robinson(AUS) the highest single wave score of the event so far, a 9.87. It took 17 minutes for the 26-year-old Western Australian to catch that wave, the first of his Round 2 heat against two-time Pan American Games Gold Medalist Lucca Mesinas (PER), after the two intensely jockeyed up and down the reef for positioning.
“It started on the boat and then he tried to fight a lot on the way, but it’s part of this, you know,” Robinson said. “It takes years and years of experience to stay in your moment and focus on you in that situation. [That wave] was so beautiful. It was a special afternoon just looking back and seeing everybody, seeing the sun shining, seeing the waves. I was just really happy to be out there.” |
