A complete day of repechage rounds whittled down the record number of competitors at the 2024 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Longboard Championship. The elimination rounds created a newfound tension and pressure that brought out timely performances from the competitors, surfing to stay alive in the competition.
Forty-eight surfers were eliminated through the Men’s and Women’s Repechage Rounds 1 and 2.
Irelands Tom Breen and Bea Greenberg, Englands Ben Howey and Emily Curry remain in the repechage rounds.
The top performance of day 3 went to Spain’s Nicolas Garcia, notching 16.5 points in Repechage Round 1. However, Garcia couldn’t keep the momentum going and was subsequently eliminated by England’s Ben Howey and Chile’s Rafael Cortezin his second repechage heat of the day.
Mexico’s Jonathan Melendres (15.27) and Colombia’s Nicolas Ayala (14.9) put on strong showings with high wave scores in the excellent range. Melendres was able to back up his performance and advance through another round of repechage, while Ayala, unfortunately, was taken down in his second heat.
USA’s medal aspirations took a serious hit as the 2018 Copper Medalist Kevin Skvarna was eliminated in Men’s Repechage Round 2. Skvarna was unable to find a second scoring wave and was subsequently eliminated by Chinese Taipei’s Yuan Cheng-Chih and Costa Rica’s Dorian Torres.
In Women’s Repechage Round 2, Australia’s Tully White started off strong with the highest women’s wave score of the day with 8.17 points. However, White didn’t find a back up score and needed a wave in the dying moments of the heat. White and her team rejoiced on the beach as the 5.27 score came through, a 13.44 total, more than enough to send her into Repechage Round 3 and bump Ecuador’s Fanny Alexandra Villao down into third and out of the event.
“That was a bit stressful for my team,” said White. “I was freaking out, but we got there. I knew I could get the score. When I stood up I needed a 1.83, but luckily I was able to trust that I could get one and do something. I’m stoked.”
Before her elimination, Alexandra Villao’s 13 point heat total had been the highest of the day, but just as with Spain’s Garcia on the men’s side, her strong round 1 performance didn’t translate into round 2 success.
Canada’s Olivia Stokes (12.74), Puerto Rico’s Jazmine Dean (13.03) and South Korea’s Soojin Park (12.24) also put on top performances in another day of solid surf at El Sunzal. Stokes and Dean advanced through to Repechage Round 2, while Park was later eliminated in her second heat of the day.
After three days of competition, Japan, France, and Brazil are the only three nations that remain with all four competitors in the Main Event. The race for the team standings will further heat up tomorrow as the competition rolls into the back half of the event window.
On Day 4, powerhouse heats will go down in the pursuit for Gold Medals. Women’s Main Event Round 3 will feature past medalists such as Japan’s Naomi Taoka, France’s Zoe Grospiron, USA’s Rachael Tilly, Hawaii’s Honolua Blomfield, France’s Alice Le Moigne, and Peru’s Maria Fernanda Reyes.
In Men’s Main Event Round 3, the 2019 Gold Medalist, Peru’s Benoit Clemente, will face off against France’s two-time Bronze Medalist, Edouard Delpero. England’s Ben Skinner, who earned the highest men’s wave score of the event on day 2, will face off against medal favorite, Hawaii’s Kaniela Stewart, who currently holds the highest men’s heat total thus far. Other past medalists to take to the water will be Brazil’s Carlos Bahia, Philippines’ Rogelio Esquieviel, and Hawaii’s Kai Sallas.
