LIVETICKER DAY 6 (GMT+4)
Current discipline: Kite-Surf (Women now on after Airton won the men’s singles earlier!)
Judging Criteria: Pure wave – 20 minute heats / best 2 waves count from 15 possible waves
Wind: 14 – 16 knots
Wave conditions: Generally smaller than yesterday, but still big ones, though cleaner and more consistent wind. The head high to over-head action should be great!
Note: This liveticker automatically updates every couple of minutes if ticker is online!
Note: Scroll down on this page for the live heat score and heat ladder
Report: Jim Gaunt
18.20 – Women’s round two wrap-up – END OF DAY (Scroll down for Men’s heats)
As we approach a beautiful dusky sunset here in Bel Ombre, here are the results from the five heats that we’ve not yet posted here:
WOMEN’S UPCOMING ROUND 3 (QUARTER FINALS)
13A: Jalou Langeree (NED) V Ninja Ricot (MRU / GER)
13B: Irati Fonseca Kohler (CV) V Sophia Abreu (Brazil)
14A: Maria Kinkina (BUL) V Ranja Schlotte (GER)
14B: Barbara Sgardello (ITA) V TBC
HEAT 12B – POSTPONED UNTIL TOMORROW
Carla Herrera (ESP) V Alina Froschmeier (GER)
HEAT 12A
Barbara Sgardello (ITA) beat Irina Jenni (SWI)
HEAT 11B
Ranja Schlotte (GER) beat Susanne Schwartztrauber (GER)
HEAT 11A
Maria Kinkina (BUL) beat Catharina Edin (SWE)
HEAT 10B
Sophia Abreu (Brazil) beat Charlotte Carpentier (FRA)
HEAT 10A
Irati Fonseca Kohler (CV) beat Sonja Bunter (GER)
16.10 – Second heat round two
HEAT 09B
Frances Kelly (AUS) V Ninja Ricot (MRU / GER)
Ninja has so much speed and flow, she’s a joy to watch and so clean off the top. She may be local and hold that advantage, but she definitely rips. Though this time didn’t get as many points as Jalou who was in the previous heat.
RESULT
Ninja advances to the quarter finals … TO FACE JALOU! – 13.07
Kelly is out of the singles – 3.74
15.50 – First heat of Round two
HEAT 09A
Superb performance from Jalou Langeree, keeping super tight to the wave, slamming turn after turn on her frontside. Looking very comfortable already on this new wave to her, catching some sizeable liquid walls that charged at the reef. The Dutch rider peaked with an 8.17 and got a best-two wave total of 15.07. Close to Ninja’s score of 17.74 in the first round, but not quite there. Game on. Peri Roberts from Australia couldn’t match Jalou’s consistent pace along the wave.
RESULT:
Jalou Langeree wins and advances to round 3 (quarter finals) – 15.07
Peri Roberts is out of the singles
15.30 – Women’s single elimination round one results-wrap
Due to the way the heat draw falls with 20 women in this competition, there were several riders who received byes to round 2.
4 heats ran in round one and the results are as follows:
HEAT 02B
Ninja Ricot (Formerly ‘Bichler’ – local rider and GKA World Tour event winner in 2016) won against Stella Groschupf (GER)
Ninja’s an incredible rider and has set a huge standard for the women, almost scoring a 9 for one of her waves!
RESULT:
Ninja Ricot wins and advances to the second round – 17.74
Stella Groschupf is out of the single elimination, she will return in the doubles.
HEAT 04B
Kathrine Kuhnert (now Ernest – MRU) V Sophia Abreu (BRA)
RESULT:
Win for the Brazilian
HEAT 06B
Olivia Jenkins (UK – Living on Maui) V Ranja Schlotte (GER)
Olivia may be a familiar name to you – a regular footed ripper, living on Maui, famously riding big waves at Jaws, struggled here on her less familiar backhand.
RESULT:
Schlotte wins: 8.64
Jenkins out of singles: 4.8
HEAT 08B
Alina Froschmeier (GER) V Varvara Kazbanova (RUS)
Second appearance this week from the new Russian on the scene who also competed in the Freesyle! She’s doing it all! Sadly she lost this one.
RESULT:
Froschmeier wins: 8.66
Kazbanova out of the singles: 3.07
————- START OF WOMEN’S SINGLE ELIMINATION —-
14.20 – MENS SINGLE ELIMINATION FINAL RESULT:
Airton Cozzolino V James Carew
Performance waves for the final, no doubt.
Airton frontside / James on his back hand.
Right at the start Airton dropped in and James followed suit on the big wave following behind, the two white Duotone’s dancing down the line together. What a final this is setting up to be.
Airton super fast, careering out of his bottom turns propelling maximum speed to the lip… one, two three times, squeezing everything out of every wave.
Most waves in the first few minutes were at least head and a half high.
James meanwhile knows how much success he’s had chasing barrels, fades in once, twice, found the pitch he wanted third time, holds his line, goes into a big cave… and didn’t come out.
Two waves come together with white water coming at Airton at two angles, he eyed the point of impact and dissected both waves down the middle. He’s so powerful, an animal.
Time and again both riders pulled in at any chance of a throwing lip. As yet, no fruit in that labour.
James is picking the bombs and just launching himself at the lip, not quite getting the drops back down.
Airton meanwhile found more consistency in big off-the-tops, air dropping back into the wave a couple of times.
Just after halfway James started to come back, pulling the deficit back to just 3 points from the two counting waves. But suddenly Airton pulled in and came out of the whitewater. Head flick and into another turn, getting his fins out. He has that look of confidence that we’ve seen so often.
As yet neither rider scored more than 7 points in this final, with 8 minutes left.
14.33 / 11.3 points with 8 minutes to go in Airton’s favour. Best two waves counting remember, so it’s not over til it’s over.
On his 8th trick, James poached a 6.8 score, suddenly there it was 14.33 – 13.83
Airton picked a big one, it looked good but he had to do one massive turn around a white section and then it all closed out. Unlucky.
The frontside / backside competition has been pretty even through the entire single elimination competition, but in the end Airton was able to impress the judges with just a few more moments of flair, showing his comfort in repeatedly getting tail loose at the top of the wave, something James was limited by a little more on his back hand. Airton also managed to find the waves that held up for longer, nailing 5 turns on his last wave, getting a 7.93.
Seconds earlier James had pulled square with a 7.4, but that’s what happens with Airton, he never ever lets up.
RESULT:
Airton wins the single elimination!
James Carew is second
13.50 – Mini final result
Oswald Smith V Jan Marcos Riveras
Still good waves for this heat, but perhaps they were pulsing through in longer sets perhaps, meaning there was a period mid heat where both riders scratched around for waves with less reward.
Jan Marcos found a big one on his 8th wave, a couple of turns. Need a few more turns to get beyond the 3.5 he earned for that though.
Ozzie’s wave attack was tight and pocket to pocket.
Jan Marcos continued to find size out the back.
Ozzie is just so explosive off the bottom coming off the bottom, bam – huge spray under the lip. He found a few golden moments towards the end.
Smith first and last wave did it, both in the six point range. He’s made the single elimination podium!
RESULT:
Oswald Smith wins and takes 3rd place in the single elimination final
Jan Marcos Riveras takes 4th
13.20 – Final heat confirmed:
Final to come: Airton Cozzolino V James Carew
3rd place final: Jan Marcos Riveras V Oswald Smith
13.15 – Men’s second semi-final result:
Jan Marcos Riveras (DR) V Airton Cozzolino
No less intensity in this one up against his friend and fellow long-time GKA tour competitor Jan Marcos, but the waves didn’t deliver the same pitching angles for the barrel hunt. Airton did pull in to one epic barrel attempt, it was deep, but the lip caught the side of his head as he came out and just couldn’t quite hold the balance…
Jan Marcos was busier in this heat, earning a highest wave score of 5.07 on wave 6, but Airton’s 5 waves over the six point mark tell the story of his dominance. Not such a big score difference as last time for him between two tricks, but safely through to the final to meet team mate, James.
RESULT:
Airton wins – through to the final against James Carew
Jan Marcos into the 3rd place final against Oswald Smith
12.45 – Men’s first semi-final result:
James Carew (AUS) V Oswald Smith
Carew said before the heat that this wave was really suiting his backside style. He was up against a very stoked Oswald Smith who was on a high after beating Mitu Monteiro.
This heat was packed with solid rides. 8.9 and 7.73 were James’ best out of a haul of 13 wave attempts – the most we’ve seen so far.
Ozzie wasn’t far behind on 10 waves, with a 7.3 of his own, but the super powerful Australian backsider confirmed his almost sure destiny of making it to the final, such has been his performance here so far.
No shame for Ozzy – quarter finals in the Freestyle. Semi final in the Kite-Surf waves. #weshouldallridelikethat!
RESULT:
James Carew – through to the final: 16.63
Oswald Smith – 13.37
12.25
Men’s single elimination semi final confirmation:
Oswald Smith V James Carew
Airton Cozzolino V Jan Marcos Riveras
12.20 – Heat result – last hear of round 3 (quarter finals)
Airton Cozzolino (CV / ITA) V Jeremy Chan
No repeat of the upset seen in Mauritius in 2016 when Jeremy caught a sick barrel to know Airton out. Ayrton said beforehand he’d been looking forward to this match-up again. Two of the highest scoring waves of the day, powerfully linking multiple turns, careering for the barrel: 8.93 and 9.7 on his 7th wave, still with half the heat left.
Having scored a 9.7 on his 7th wave, Airton hooks onto another big swell for wave 8. Drops in: amazing turn, into a sick barrel, punches through the curtain, no need to adjust, his weight is perfect, straight into a powerful bottom turn up toe the lip, air drops back into the wave, another two turns… kicks out and looks up to the sky. He knows how rad that was… did the judges? Yes they did – 10 POINTS.
Chan’s in the barrel… smaller, but not just a little hair wash.
Chan’s in the barrel again… local knowledge. He’s missing the powerful turns, but what a heat.
RESULT:
Airton wins – through to the semis, to face Jan Marcos Riveras – 19.7
Chan out of the singles – 8.8
12.00 – Heat result – third heat of round 3 (quarter finals)
R3 HEAT 14
Francesco Cappuzzo (ITA) V Jan Marcos Riveras (DR)
Waves picking up at the moment and some bangers coming through. Frontside duel here with Jan Marcos Riveras eventually advancing to the semis after 8 wave attempts compared to the Italian’s 9 – close finals scores though. JMR the more experienced kite-surf competitor, but Capuzzo also competes on the Freestyle windsurfing world tour – so he knows his way round a heat.
RESULT:
Riveras through to the semis – 8.67
Cappuzzo out of singles – 7.44
11.35 – Heat result – second heat of round 3 (quarter finals)
R3 HEAT 13B
Waves 3, 4 and 5 were where the scoring action came in this heat for both riders, Ozzie slipping a lead out with a 5.07 and 3.77 on his 5th and 6th wave. He’s fresh in from Indo and it’s paying off. (Remember he also reached the quarter finals of the Freestyle this week too! What a rider). Mitu is lying in second in the championship and could do without going out now! Ozzie’s not in contention for the title, but on the hunt for single event glory.
On his 6th wave Ozzie moved further ahead with a 6.3, giving him a 11.37 versus Mitu’s 8.77! Just two minutes left on the clock in this 20 minute quarter final heat.
Ozzy pulls into a little cover-up barrel… and comes out… 20 seconds on the clock…
Mitu finds a big one in the dying seconds, works it, one, two, three turns, all the way to the inside…
But it’s done! The South African charges through.
RESULT:
Oswald Smith through to the semis – 11.37
Mitu Monteiro out – and will be back in the doubles – 8.77
11.10 – Heat result – first heat of round 3 (quarter finals)
R3 HEAT 13A
James Carew (AUS) V Pedro Matos (BRA)
Duotone team mates / backside battle = internal grudge match. And it was super tight! With 4 minutes to go, Carew held a minor advantage of 12.44 / 12.1 and a wave count of 7 each… Both riders started trying to pull into pits for the cover up come the end of the heat, trying to find the crushing blow…
Scores remained the same. Despite Matos getting the highest single wave score of 7.4, Carew’s two 6+ point scores proved to hold the greater combined total.
RESULT:
Carew wins and advances to the semi finals – 12.44
Matos out of the singles – 12.1
10.50 – Heat result – last heat of round 2
R2 HEAT 12B
Airton Cozzolino (CV / ITA) V Graham Harney (CAN)
For the second heat in a row this morning, the first wave set the tone, with Airton smashing in an 8.37 which did the job. Not that it matters, but his wave count was 10 versus Graham’s six, so his ability to pick out key waves and perform strongly on them really makes the difference. In a strange twist of fate, Airton will once again meet Jeremy Chan in round 3, a local rider who knocked him out in the same round in the 2016 Mauritius event!
RESULT:
Cozzolino wins, through to round 3 – 15.84 points (from two waves)
Carney out of the singles – 7.4 points
Matos out, will be back for the double elimination
10.30 – Heat result
R2 HEAT 12
Kiko Roig Torres (ESP) V Jeremy Chan (MRU)
First wave hammer blow from local Jeremy Chan did most of the damage here against Spaniard Kiko who it has to be said is more of a strapless freestyle specialist, but is a young gun and dedicated to the whole tour, building experience in waves. Jeremy is a master of this island and over seven wave scores consistently edge higher scores from the judges. Riders are allows 15 wave attempts, top two to count. In the end it was a comfortable victory, though we will see higher heat scores as we progress through the contest. RESULT:
Jeremy Chan wins and advances to round 3
Kiko Roig Torres is out of the singles and must wait for another chance in the double elimination
09.00 – Good morning from waterside here at the Heritage lagoon in Bel Ombre. The wind is currently light but the forecast is for it to pick up. The swell is also a little smaller today which will hold up really nicely on this reef, for good, clean faces and cross-shore action. The event is currently on hold, but when we begin we will re-join the last two heats round 2 of the men’s single elimination:
R2 HEAT 12
Kiko Roig Torres (ESP) V Jeremy Chan (MRU)
then:
R2 HEAT 12B
Airton Cozzolino (CV / ITA) V Graham Harney (CAN)
Single elimination lower down this page.
Find the liveticker head reports of the Kite-Surf action and yesterday’s Freestyle heats here:
Day 1 (Friday / Kite-Surf): Here
Day 2 (Saturday / Kite-Surf): Here
Day 3 (Sunday / Freestyle): Here
Day 4 (Monday / Freestyle): Here
Day 5 (Tuesday): Here
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