Top 10’s Jordy Smith and Ryan Callinan Relegated to Elimination Round

today with the opening Seeding Round completed in three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves at Teahupo’o.

Event No. 7 of 11 on the 2019 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o pres. by Hurley, occupies one of the most critical points of the season for both the WSL Title Race and 2020 Requalification Battle.

“Having the frontrunner spot is a position I’ve never had prior to this year so there are a lot of new things that go with it,” Andino said. “I feel like I’m adjusting well and I’m just focusing on being present in my heats and surfing the best I can. Get the waves, win the heat, win the comp – that’s how you win the World Title and that’s the plan.”

An eight-year veteran of the elite Championship Tour at the young age of 25, Andino has posted strong results at Teahupo’o in recent seasons with a 5th, a 3rd and a 5th in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively.

“I love coming to Tahiti and feel like I get better at surfing this wave every year,” Andino said. “It was a spot where all the guys I looked up to when I was younger surfed really well so it’s a spot I wanted to commit myself to surfing well when I made the Tour. Looking forward to the rest of the window.”

“Getting a couple of advancing scores at Teahupo’o can happen pretty quickly as it’s a small playing field,” Slater said. “The waves were a bit wonky and I had a slow start and was getting pretty frustrated. Everyone had equal opportunity though. I think everyone wants to have heats with big barrels out here and, while it looks like we’ll get that in the coming days, it wasn’t the case today. Stoked to get a win and looking forward to ‘Chopes turning on over the next few days.”

The rounding out of the current Top 10 saw Filipe Toledo (BRA), Italo Ferreira (BRA), Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), Gabriel Medina (BRA) and Julian Wilson (AUS)all advance into Round 3, while Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Ryan Callinan (AUS)have been relegated to the Elimination Round.

“That was a hard heat,” said Ferreira. “It was hard to get in deep but I am glad to get that one. That was one of the best waves of the heat. It is hard to compete when the conditions are like this but I am glad to make it through. I’ve been watching Kauli Vaast the last few days and he is always catching the best ones and getting deep. I was glad to surf with him in that one.”

“It’s great to be back in Tahiti and to have my family with me,” Wright said. “Conditions today weren’t ideal, but looks like we have great waves coming and good to get the opening rounds completed so we can finish in the juice. Boards feel great, body feels great. Looking forward to the rest of the event and hoping for a good result.”

Complementing the intensifying of the 2019 WSL Title race is the crystallization of the battle for requalification for the 2020 Championship Tour.

Soli Bailey (AUS), 2019 WSL Championship Tour rookie and current WSL No. 32, posted an impressive opening round heat win this morning against reigning two-time WSL Champion and defending Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o winner Gabriel Medina (BRA) and fellow rookie Peterson Crisanto (BRA).

“Great to start the event with a win first up,” Bailey said. “Great for the confidence. The learning curve is so huge for your rookie season and I’ve had some strong moments but also trying to soak up a lot. Lots of opportunity left in the season and I’ll hopefully get the ball rolling here in Tahiti and push past the Round of 32.”

The next call for the Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o presented by Hurley will be tomorrow, Sunday, August 25, at 7:00 a.m. (GMT-10) for a possible 7:35 a.m. start.

The event will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com and on the free WSL app.

Also, check local listings for coverage from the WSL’s broadcast partners.

To learn more about how to get involved with Glowing Glowing Gone and the Coral Gardeners, please visit WSLPURE.org.

SUN-MON 25th-26th: Head-high to slightly overhead sets and clean – possible run.
TUE-WED 27th-28th: Solid SW swell with double overhead-plus surf – likely to run.
THUR-FRI 29th-30th: Surf eases but still head-overhead surf – conditions likely an issue.
SAT-SUN 31st-1st: More sizable swell moves in, conditions likely remain problematic.

Surfline 

More available at WorldSurfLeague.com.