Justine Dupont (FRA) was one of four French surfers to advance to the Round of 12 at the Pantin Classic Galicia Pro.
PLAYA DE PANTIN, Galicia – Spain (Friday, August 30, 2013) - Conditions came together perfectly today in Galicia for some of the best women surfers in the world to do battle in this final Star event of the 2013 season, the ASP 6-Star Pantin Classic Galicia Pro. A new 3-4Ft swell delivered clean, long peeling right and lefthanders at Praia de Pantin under the summer blue skies.
Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 17, caused the major upset of the day, eliminating defending event champion and top performer of the morning Sage Erickson (USA). Taking a risky option of starting her heat on a different peak, Erickson could not repeat her performance of the morning when she posted a near perfect 9.50. Weston-Webb surfed a smart heat and scored in the excellent range to advance alongside France’s Alizé Arnaud into the round of 12.
“Super fun day,” Weston-Webb said. “I’m happy to be out here in Spain and I want to thank my sponsors Ransom wax, Tim Carroll surfboards, Justice, Smith optics and Vertra you guys are amazing to me, and also a big shoutout to my parents! I’ve made it to the round of 12 in France and that was my best result, so hopefully I can keep going and go even further here.”
Laura Enever (AUS) 21, current World No.9, advanced through two rounds of competition despite feeling a little under the weather. The iconic Sydney surfer found her rhythm to consistently improve upon her two-wave situation and beat her opponents.
“I woke up not feeling great and it felt like my head was going to explode while I was out there, so I was just trying to save my energy I guess. It was pretty close and there weren’t that many waves so I tried to catch anything I could really. I’m just qualifying on tour I’m in 9th right now, so it’s pretty important for me to have a good backup situation on the Star tour just in case. Basically I’m trying to get out there and surf good heats and get good results, that’s the most important. On our days off, we traveled around Spain, went to Ferrol for a little bit of shopping, sightseeing and it’s absolutely breathtaking around here the coastline is so pristine so it was amazing!”
Malia Manuel (HAW) 20, launched her Galician assault today in Pantin, collecting two of the highest heat totals of the event and affirming she’s here to go all the way. A previous winner at the 2011 Pantin Classic, Manuel will be chasing a second event crown as well as the coveted rankings points on offer when competition resumes.
“It was so fun! The tide started going out and there was a flurry of waves, I just got lucky I guess it’s great when there’s a lot of waves and you’re four girls but not worrying about each other. It’s good to be back here in Pantin, I wasn’t here last year so I’m very happy to make it through today. I want to solidify my spot on tour next year, there are so many amazing girls this year, hopefully the waves stay as they are and we have a great rest of the weekend!”
Pauline Ado (FRA) 22, sole European member of the elite ASP Top 17 this year, is one of four French surfers to advance into the Round of 12 at the Pantin Classic Galicia Pro. The powerful natural footer from Anglet built momentum from her morning heat and dominated her second bout in the afternoon posting two excellent scores to advance ahead of Nikki Van Dijk.
“I felt like the waves changed a little bit in between our heats, the wind got a bit stronger and it was hard so I’m stoked with this win. I’ve had good results and disappointments this year, so I’m just chasing another good one in this last event. It’d be great to have other Frenchies on tour with me, with Johanne, Justine and Alizé we’ve known each other for ever and we got a good healthy competition going on.”
Tomorrow organizers and surfers will reconvene at 9:30am for a potential final day of the men’s 3-Star Pantin Classic Galicia Pro.
The 2013 Pantin Classic Galicia Pro is scheduled from August 27 – September 1, 2013 in Playa de Pantin, Galicia. For all results, photos, video highlights, press releases and LIVE webcast, log on to aspeurope.com/pantin2013.
The Pantin Classic Galicia Pro is made possible with the support of the following event partners: Árbol Es Vida, Vodafone Yu, Diputación de A Coruña, Xunta de Galicia, Deporte Galego, Concello de Valdoviño, Concello de Ferrol, Garnier Delial, Estrella Galicia, Cabreiroá, Surfing Latino, Novagalicia Banco, Surfer Rule, Pequot, Spotfav, RockStar Energy Drink, Carrís Hoteles, Intermax, Gadis, Concello de Cedeira, Coca-Cola, Federación Gallega de Surf amongst others.
UPCOMING PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO WOMEN’S ROUND OF 12 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW), Laura Enever (AUS), Dimity Stoyle (AUS) Heat 2: Alizé Arnaud (FRA), Georgia Fish (AUS), Johanne Defay (FRA) Heat 3: Malia Manuel (HAW), Pauline Ado (FRA), Felicity Palmateer (AUS) Heat 4: Justine Dupont (FRA), Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Alessa Quizon (HAW)
UPCOMING PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO MEN’S ROUND OF 32 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Billy Stairmand (NZL), Hiroto Arai (JPN), Dylan Lightfoot (ZAF), Nathan Hedge (AUS) Heat 2: Todd Rosewall (AUS), Leandro Usuna (ARG), Dimitri Ouvre (GLP), Rafael Pereira (VEN) Heat 3: Hiroto Ohhara (JPN), Mateia Hiquily (PYF), Ian Gouveia (BRA), Imanol Yeregi (EUK) Heat 4: Vicente Romero (ESP), Vasco Ribeiro (PRT), Steven Pierson (PYF), David Do Carmo (BRA) Heat 5: Joan Duru (FRA), Connor O’Leary (AUS), Carlos Munoz (CRI), Caue Wood (BRA) Heat 6: Eneko Acero (EUK), Sidney Guimaraes (BRA), Jordin Watson (AUS), Bino Lopes (BRA) Heat 7: Jose Ferreira (PRT), Diego Mignot (FRA), Francisco Bellorin (VEN), Ethan Egiguren (EUK) Heat 8: Marlon Lipke (PRT), Charly Quivront (FRA), Halley Batista (BRA), Vincent Duvignac (FRA)
PANTIN CLASSIC GALICIA PRO WOMEN’S ROUND OF 24 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 15.43, Alizé Arnaud (FRA) 13.93, Sage Erickson (USA) 12.36, Freya Prumm (AUS) 7.73 Heat 2: Laura Enever (AUS) 13.50, Georgia Fish (AUS) 13.30, Keely Andrew (AUS) 8.16, Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 8.00 Heat 3: Johanne Defay (FRA) 11.86, Dimity Stoyle (AUS) 10.64, Paige Hareb (NZL) 10.20, Nage Melamed (HAW) 9.67 Heat 4: Malia Manuel (HAW) 16.30, Justine Dupont (FRA) 11.50, Philippa Anderson (AUS) 10.36, Naomi Stevic (AUS) 9.27 Heat 5: Pauline Ado (FRA) 16.16, Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 14.80, Silvana Lima (BRA) 12.17, Anali Gomez (PER) 6.57
