Cover photo: Michael Tweddle / @nat.wild.photos:
The third day of the 2023 Pan American Surfing Games (PASG) Panama, organized by the Pan American Surf Association, presented ideal conditions for the start of the competition for the Longboard Men and SUP Surf (paddle board) Women categories.
Waves were around two meters high, with a high and calm tide were the factors that accompanied the best athletes on the continent in the Men’s Longboard category.
In the first two Series of the category, Oswaldo Borbor from Ecuador and Benoit Clemente from Peru stood out, both advancing in first place. Clemente, a two-time world champion, began his route to the finals with the best combination of the tournament to the moment; 16.94 points.
Photos: Michael Tweddle / @nat.wild.photos:
In Heat 3, Pablo Bonilla from Mexico and Rafael Cortez from Chile had a nice hang ten contest, positioning their feet quickly on the tip of their boards and reacting to the changes in the wave, but Bonilla was the one who advanced to the next round in first position.
Ignacio Pignataro from Uruguay and Surfiel Gil from Argentina also showed their great level in Series 4, in an interesting exchange of waves with good hang tens and fluid cutbacks in the wave reforms. The Heat winner was Pignataro with a combined 14.9 pts.
In Heat 6, Rodrigo Sphaier from Brazil added a total of 8.33 combined pts and beat Nicolás Ayala from Colombia and Leandro Castillo from the Dominican Republic.
Carlos Bahía, finalist of the PASG 2022 in Venao beach, was another highlight after riding a wave of 8.83 pts, one of the highest in Round 1 of Men’s Longboard.
Photos: Philippe Demarsan / @philippedemarsan1
Martín Pérez from Argentina (multiple Argentinian and Latin American champion) and Uruguayan Julián Schweizer (participant of the world tour and Lima 2019 athlete) also put on a great show in the waves of Santa Catalina during Heat 9. Schweizer added the best second combination of the day (8.40 and 8.10 pts – 16.50 pts), with long hang tens and hang fives, changing maneuvers at the very tip of the board and on the same wave.
Tzahui Poo from Mexico did not give his rivals a chance to react, facing Kai St. George from Barbados who advanced in second place and José Boza from Chile, eliminated from the event.
Amado de Jesús Alvarado from El Salvador, one of the favorites to win the tournament, along with Peruvian Sebastian Cárdenas. also advanced to the next Round as the waves appeared less frequently.
The final Heat of the round had the participation of Rio Donaldson from Puerto Rico with a combined 10.77 pts; followed by Jose Loor from Ecuador, with 7.93 pts; and David Schiaffino from Canada with 7.87 pts.
For the second part of the day, it was the turn of SUP Surf Mujeres, just as the tide began to rise.
Lucia Cosoleto from Argentina, defending Pan American champion and Current World champion in this category, along with Vania Torres from Peru, had a strong start towards the finals. In their respective Heats (1 and 2) both athletes reached a combination of 14 pts (14.73 for Cosoleto and 14.84 pts for Torres). The Argentine scored the best individual wave of this Round, with 9.00 points.
In her presentation we could see vertical cuts, well-defined lines and great adaptability to face the wave, in complicated conditions due to low tide.
“The waves are good, but it is a bit difficult to surf with the rising low tide. It has been difficult for me to take the wave, because it is a bit staggered and you can see the rock. As I tucked two rolls into one wave, the rock appeared. I am eager to continue advancing”, said Torres.
In Heat 3 and 4, the Brazilians Quillvia Cardoso and Aline Adisaka advanced. Adisaka showed excellent rail management and a lot of aggressiveness in her maneuvers to score the second best wave of the day, with 8.10 points.
Brissa Málaga from Peru and Catherine Temple from Canada rounded out the outstanding SUP Surf athletes who advanced in first place to Round 2 of 4, placing themselves one step closer to Medals.
The competition continues tomorrow with the first Round of Women’s Shortboard followed by Men’s SUP Surf, with a call at 7am (Panama time).
Follow the live broadcast and results at www.pasasurf.org.
The XVI edition of the Pan American Surfing Games is possible thanks to:
• Panama Tourism Authority
• Pandeportes
• Psycho Tuna
• G-SHOCK
• Reef
• Amstel Ultra
• COS channel
• COPA Airlines
We also thank the Media Partners Surfing República, Canal PX Sports and Super Deportes.
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