What Happened During Elimination Day At The Drug Aware Pro?

Compared to yesterday’s North Point action, fittingly climaxed with a Sebastian Zietz perfect barrel, today’s competition felt more like a denouement. The day’s activities were moved to Margaret River Main Break, where the rifling approach of yesterday was swapped for a more snowboard procedure. In short: The waves were big, mushy, and there were a lot of cutbacks. Let’s dive in.

In the first heat of the day, Gabriel Medina took a surprising fall to wildcard Jacob Wilcox. In the all goofy footer battle, it was Jacob’s backside snaps that bested Gabriel’s. With Jacob finishing with a 10.53 total compared to Gab’s 9.

“I had a feeling it was going to be at Main Break today, and I was really hoping it would be at The Box,” said the local boy afterwards. “I don’t really surf Main Break all that much, but I’ve been out there the past week trying to get used to it. That was really hard, though. It was super windy and the sets were peaking out the back, just hard to get your bearings.”

In another close matchup of the day, Owen Wright took on Ezekiel Lau in heat three. It was a back-and-forth affair, with the gold jersey wearer vying against the Hawaiian, who looked right at home in the Sunset Beach-esque conditions. However, Owen’s single wave scores of 5.90 and 8.50, for a heat total of 14.40, edged out Zeke’s combined 13.

“Yeah, just picked up a couple nice ones out there,” said Owen. “Pristine conditions if you have a good board under your feet. Thankfully, I got pretty lucky and held a good speed with my 6’8”.”

In one of the most contested meetings of the day, Kanoa Igarashi beat out Mick Fanning in heat 11 by just .01 points. It came down to the wire, with Mick snagging a solid wave at the buzzer, but he was only able to pick up a 4.93 when he needed a 5.35 to pass Kanoa. Thus, falling short.

“I grew up watching Mick compete and in videos,” said Kanoa after his heat. “But, that’s what the tour’s about. Surfing against your heroes you’ve looked up to your whole life, then switching on that mode where you’ve gotta smash them.” 

Despite suffering a slow start, Kanoa gathered his bearings halfway through his heat against Mick, eliminating the Australian.

Other than those strife confrontations, most of the day’s elimination heats were rather lacklustre. With swell on the horizon, it looks like the comp will continue tomorrow. Maybe we’ll be back at North Point? Or The Box? Please?