Nadia Erostarbe, Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri, and Hans Odriozola are the only three Basque surfers continuing in the main competition of the Punta Rocas World Championship. Kai Odriozola and Naïa Monte, meanwhile, still have chances through the repechage. Rubén Vitoria and Ariane Ochoa, however, have been definitively eliminated in the fifth round of the repechage.
Today's action at the Punta Rocas World Championship was packed with excitement. The performances of Hans Odriozola, and Nadia Erostarbe and Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri were particularly outstanding, as they have already reached the fifth round of the main competition.
The two Basque Team surfers had to unleash their full potential in one of the toughest and most competitive heats of the day. The series included three surfers from the CT: Erostarbe herself, Brazil's Luana Silva, and Portugal's Francisca Veselko, in addition to last year's champion and title defender, Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri. The sea grew rougher and the waves became larger. Three of them received scores above 7.00, leading to the heat being decided in the final moments. In a nail-biting few minutes where the surfers couldn't hear the latest scores from the water, the two surfers from Gipuzkoa secured their tickets to advance to the fifth elimination round. Janire was the highest rated with 13.3, followed by Nadia with 12.76, Luana Silva with 12.7, and Francisca Veselko with 5.53. Both Nadia and Janire admitted to the Basque Team communication crew in Peru that fatigue is accumulating but their hopes of a strong finish to the weekend remain intact.
Hans Odriozola, despite his youth, shone again in a round that once again presented itself as complicated but which he managed to master. The best in the heat was Australia's Liam O’Brien with a total score of 14.33. He was followed by the San Sebastián native, who achieved the best score of the heat and one of the best of the day. His best wave was scored by the judges at 8.50, later accompanied by a 4.33 that proved decisive in overcoming France's Kauli Vaast (11.40) and his teammate, Germany's Tim Elter (3.93). Hans is now within the Top 12 in his debut at an absolute World Championship.
His brother Kai is having to fight hard as he fell into the repechage very early. However, he is having a magnificent championship through the parallel competition. Today he had to compete in two rounds within the repechage, the fifth and the sixth. In the latter, with stars like Griffin Colapinto in his heat, he did not falter and managed to advance as the leader with a score of 12.1, defeating Colapinto himself, Portugal's Ordonhas, and Panama's González.
Rubén Vitoria was not as fortunate, as he was definitively eliminated from the championship in the fifth round of the repechage. The surfer from Zarautz would have liked to continue climbing the ranks as he did last year, but he finished third in his heat (7.50), behind G. Colapinto (12.76) and Connor O’Leary (10.07), thus saying goodbye to the event.
So did Ariane Ochoa, and in a very painful way. In the morning, she did not overcome the fourth round of the main competition and fell to the parallel event. In the sixth round of the repechage held in the afternoon, she led the heat for many minutes, but in the final stages, she had to fight hard with Peru's Sol Aguirre. In the last seconds, two consecutive waves came in, and the local surfer's wave was scored at 5.90, which changed the final result. With the score from that wave, Ariane dropped to third position, being eliminated. She will now focus on finishing the season in the best possible way to achieve qualification for the Championship Tour.
Naïa Monte closed the Basque participation for the day by competing in the sixth round of the repechage. Like Ariane, Naïa left the main competition in the morning, but in her case, she is still in the event through the parallel route. At 15 years old, the surfer from Baiona is proving to be one of the surprises of this World Championship. She won her heat (10.70) against France's Aelan Vaast (9.57), Germany's Camilla Kemp (5.00), and South Africa's Louise Lepront (4.20).
