Griffin Colapinto Reinvigorates The Hail Mary

It’s amazing what some folk can do when they’re backed into a corner. When 18-year-old Griffin Colapinto found himself looking down the barrel of elimination today at the Hawaiian Pro, he got desperate. Pitched against big time players in his round three heat Jordy Smith, Tanner Gudauskas and Stuart Kennedy and with seconds left on the clock, Griff was needing a high scoring ride to lift him out of third place when he was given one last opportunity. Aiming at an outside heaving Haleiwa lip, he flung himself out into the flats and rode out of the most exciting ride of the event (please indulge above). His arms raised and the judges awarded the Californian with a 9.93 to leapfrog Jordy and take out the heat. The result takes him through to round four where he’ll face an in-form all-QS lineup consisting of Vasco Ribeiro, Brett Simpson and Evan Geiselman.

The CT riders joined the parade today in the high performance conditions with Kelly Slater and John John Florence among the big names to push through to the next round. If you missed the King’s excellent range attack then dive in above and clean yourself up afterwards.  

Here’s the round four heat draw, with some powerful heads still in contention, tomorrow should be rather thrilling – conditions permitting of course.