Both the Hurley Pro and Swatch Women's Pro saw intense faceoffs Saturday, at a time when every point counts.
Condensed Heat Recaps: Men's | Women's
Heat Analyzers: Men's | Women's
Recap: Men's Round 1 & Women's Round 1 (Heats 1-5) | Women's Rounds 1 (Heat 6) and 2 & Men's Round 2 (Heats 1-10) |Men's Rounds 2 (Heats 11-12) and 3 & Women's Round 3
Full Results: Men's | Women's
The type of intensity that comes with the road to the Quarters was heightened at the Swatch Women's Pro by the World Title race shuffle and at the Hurley Pro by mind-blowing acrobatics and heavyweight matchups.
Lakey Peterson opens a long line of graceful carves with an extreme cutback for a 9.37 in Round 4.
Lakey Peterson (USA), whose huge cutbacks in Round 4 saw her earn the day's first score in the nine-point range, found herself against against World No. 1 Courtney Conlogue (USA) in the Quarterfinals. With Peterson's knowledge of the break and Conlogue's recent dominance, it had built into a sort of superheat. But once Peterson dropped an 8.93 on her first strike, she never let up. For the second consecutive year, Peterson was able to topple the world rankings leader at Trestles.
Last year, Peterson defeated then-reigning World Champion Carissa Moore (HAW), who would lose the yellow jersey as a result. This time around, with her defeat of the Tour leader, Peterson's performance opened a door for Moore instead of closing one. Moore paddled out for the next matchup just one heat away from overtaking Conlogue and wearing the yellow jersey in Europe. But it would be a huge heat to get through.
Pitted against a fierce Tyler Wright (AUS), known for her playful, progressive style, Moore fell behind early. Unleashing her powerful forehand attack, Wright threw buckets of spray down the line, earning a near-perfect 9.93 on her first wave of the heat. But the Hawaiian maintained composure. In the final minute, she flew down a long righthander with her signature confidence and authority, earning an 8.10 to turn the heat and defeat Wright. With the win, she again took the top spot on the Jeep Leaderboard, which she had held through the first five events of the season.
Tyler Wright and Carissa Moore go blow for blow in the Quarterfinal condensed heat cutdown.
"It was really tough to keep my head after Tyler started off with a near-perfect score," said Moore. "I'm so thankful and happy that it worked out at the end -- I was praying so hard for the score to come in."
The opening heat of men's competition was a showcase of Brazilian bombs. World No. 4 Filipe Toledo (BRA) has gotten higher above the lip with each punt and he reached a crescendo in Round 4 when he airlifted for a 9.20. His opponents and countrymen, rookie Italo Ferreira and Miguel Pupo followed suit, also pushed the envelope: Ferreira landed a full rotation down the face of a lefthander. But another air-reverse for Toledo kept him a step above his challengers.
Miguel Pupo, Italo Ferreira and Filipe Toledo go wave for wave for the direct advance in the Round 4 heat recap.
"We're all really good friends but we're also really passionate about our sport," said Toledo. "I would have been really angry if I didn't win that heat because I really want a good result at this event."
Gabriel Medina (BRA) carried the torch for the Brazilians in the Round 4 superheat where he matched up with Kelly Slater (USA) and Owen Wright (AUS). After a series of vertical hacks, the reigning World Champ took an early lead. Wright threw aggressive, fins-free maneuvers for a nine-pointer, but Medina's early scores carried him directly to a win, and directly to the Quarterfinals.
Watch Gabriel Medina, Kelly Slater and Owen Wright go wave for wave in the final heat of Round 4.
BONUS: Medina's advance set up another superheat featuring Slater and three-time World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS). But while the judges were ultimately swayed by Fanning's rail work, fans were won over by a trick from the 11-time World Champ: Slater soared above the lip, his feet leaving his board. But somehow he reconnected with it, riding out and finishing with a series of carves. It was a miss -- but it was a near miss.
The so-called "Houdini" of surfing didn't complete his maneuver, but still knows how to entertain a crowd.
Midway through Day 3 at the Hurley Pro and Swatch Women's Pro, some of surfing's biggest legends hit the lineup at Lowers for a special expression session. Check out the wave-by-wave video review here.
Moore Takes Yellow Jersey, Hurley Pro Superheats Unfold
Paula Lehman
Condensed Heat Recaps: Men's | Women's
Heat Analyzers: Men's | Women's
Recap: Men's Round 1 & Women's Round 1 (Heats 1-5) | Women's Rounds 1 (Heat 6) and 2 & Men's Round 2 (Heats 1-10) |Men's Rounds 2 (Heats 11-12) and 3 & Women's Round 3
Full Results: Men's | Women's
The type of intensity that comes with the road to the Quarters was heightened at the Swatch Women's Pro by the World Title race shuffle and at the Hurley Pro by mind-blowing acrobatics and heavyweight matchups.
Lakey Peterson (USA), whose huge cutbacks in Round 4 saw her earn the day's first score in the nine-point range, found herself against against World No. 1 Courtney Conlogue (USA) in the Quarterfinals. With Peterson's knowledge of the break and Conlogue's recent dominance, it had built into a sort of superheat. But once Peterson dropped an 8.93 on her first strike, she never let up. For the second consecutive year, Peterson was able to topple the world rankings leader at Trestles.
Last year, Peterson defeated then-reigning World Champion Carissa Moore (HAW), who would lose the yellow jersey as a result. This time around, with her defeat of the Tour leader, Peterson's performance opened a door for Moore instead of closing one. Moore paddled out for the next matchup just one heat away from overtaking Conlogue and wearing the yellow jersey in Europe. But it would be a huge heat to get through.
Pitted against a fierce Tyler Wright (AUS), known for her playful, progressive style, Moore fell behind early. Unleashing her powerful forehand attack, Wright threw buckets of spray down the line, earning a near-perfect 9.93 on her first wave of the heat. But the Hawaiian maintained composure. In the final minute, she flew down a long righthander with her signature confidence and authority, earning an 8.10 to turn the heat and defeat Wright. With the win, she again took the top spot on the Jeep Leaderboard, which she had held through the first five events of the season.
"It was really tough to keep my head after Tyler started off with a near-perfect score," said Moore. "I'm so thankful and happy that it worked out at the end -- I was praying so hard for the score to come in."
The opening heat of men's competition was a showcase of Brazilian bombs. World No. 4 Filipe Toledo (BRA) has gotten higher above the lip with each punt and he reached a crescendo in Round 4 when he airlifted for a 9.20. His opponents and countrymen, rookie Italo Ferreira and Miguel Pupo followed suit, also pushed the envelope: Ferreira landed a full rotation down the face of a lefthander. But another air-reverse for Toledo kept him a step above his challengers.
"We're all really good friends but we're also really passionate about our sport," said Toledo. "I would have been really angry if I didn't win that heat because I really want a good result at this event."
Gabriel Medina (BRA) carried the torch for the Brazilians in the Round 4 superheat where he matched up with Kelly Slater (USA) and Owen Wright (AUS). After a series of vertical hacks, the reigning World Champ took an early lead. Wright threw aggressive, fins-free maneuvers for a nine-pointer, but Medina's early scores carried him directly to a win, and directly to the Quarterfinals.
BONUS: Medina's advance set up another superheat featuring Slater and three-time World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS). But while the judges were ultimately swayed by Fanning's rail work, fans were won over by a trick from the 11-time World Champ: Slater soared above the lip, his feet leaving his board. But somehow he reconnected with it, riding out and finishing with a series of carves. It was a miss -- but it was a near miss.
Midway through Day 3 at the Hurley Pro and Swatch Women's Pro, some of surfing's biggest legends hit the lineup at Lowers for a special expression session. Check out the wave-by-wave video review here.
Swatch Women's Pro
Get to know the wave where the world's best will battle at the Hurley Pro and Swatch Pro. Featuring local shaper Matt "Mayhem" Biolos.
Watch the best action from the men's and women's CT events at Lower Trestles Sunday, October 4.
The Championship Tour surfers arrived, battled and conquered Lower Trestles, but the tunes behind it all live on.
Lost Surfboards' Matt "Mayhem" Biolos on the boards that took Carissa Moore back up to No. 1 at the Swatch Women's Pro.
The Hurley Pro and Swatch Women's Pro are complete and two former Tour leaders steal back the yellow jerseys.
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