By Lincoln Feast
TEAHUPO’O, Tahiti (Reuters) – The Olympic surfing competition got underway in Tahiti on Saturday, with Australian medal hope Jack Robinson and Brazil’s reigning world champion Filipe Toledo relegated to the second round in clean overhead waves at Teahupo’o.
Men’s round one action started at 7am local time (1700 GMT) with Australia’s Ethan Ewing taking a win over Tim Elter of Germany and South Africa’s Jordy Smith. Ewing picked up a solid 7.33 points out of 10 for a nice tube on his first wave but was left waiting on a second score until near the end of the heat.
“I was worried if I went too early and just got a pretty average score then a set could come and Jordy could overtake me again,” Ewing said. “So yeah, I had to kind of time it right and it worked out in the end.”
Teahupo’o hasn’t always been kind to the Aussies. Ewing fractured two vertebrae last year ahead of the Tahiti Pro while Robinson, who is in heat two, cut his foot during a warm-up surf earlier in the week.
Robinson was leading his heat against France’s Joan Duru and South Africa’s Matthew McGillivray until the last minute when Duru threaded a solid barrel and got the score, drawing cheers from some of the two dozen boats watching from the channel.
Another unexpected result saw Peru’s Alonso Correa beat Toledo and Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi courtesy of an 8.5 for a steep drop and tube.
Winners from the first round head directly to round three, while the losers will face sudden death in the second round.
The women’s competition is set to begin later on Saturday, with decent waves also expected for Sunday. Rough weather and bad winds next week are likely to delay competition for a few days but only four days are required to complete the action, which can run until Aug. 5.
“There’s a big swell at the back end of the forecast now that everyone is looking at so we’re just hoping that materializes, because would be awesome to see, like, proper Chopes, where it’s a bit heavy and there’s some consequence involved,” McGillivray said, using a nickname for Teahupo’o.
The South African scored a perfect 10 on a giant Tahitian tube in a 2022 competition and is a BASE jumper in his spare time, so is relishing the prospect of some heavier water.
“Yeah, I like being outside my comfort zone and in scary surf. So if it gets bigger it’s definitely going to suit me more.”
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Tahiti; Editing by Toby Davis)
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