US women carry hopes in Olympic surfing after Andino defeat
"Unfortunately I couldn't carry the momentum forward, but I tried my best and that's all I can do."
ICHINOMIYA, Japan (AFP) - US hopes of winning the first-ever men’s Olympic surfing competition ended on Tuesday when Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi eliminated Kolohe Andino in the quarter-finals.
But the Americans fared better in the women’s event, with world number one Carissa Moore and team-mate Caroline Marks booking their places in the semi-finals.
Andino had knocked out team-mate John John Florence in the previous round, but Igarashi was too hot to handle with a tropical storm whipping up wild waves at Tsurigasaki Beach.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t carry the momentum forward, but I tried my best and that’s all I can do,” said Andino, who had ankle surgery just weeks before the Games.
Organisers moved the medal events of surfing’s Olympic debut forward to capitalise on favourable wave conditions.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the men’s and women’s events are all being contested on Tuesday.
Igarashi, whose father grew up surfing on the same beach, was the first to advance to the men’s semi-finals.
“Today was one of those days where it’s man against ocean, more so than competing against your competitor” he said.
“It just makes it fun. We’ve had every condition at this event so far, we’ve had to dig deep and today’s no different.”
Igarashi will face Brazilian world number one Gabriel Medina in the first semi-final, before Italo Ferreira, also of Brazil, takes on Australia’s Owen Wright.
The waves had calmed slightly by the time the women’s quarter-finals got under way later in the morning.
Moore made short work of Brazil’s Silvana Lima, setting up a semi-final showdown with Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki, who knocked out Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons.
“I think the thing that’s the most difficult about these kind of conditions is there’s no defined peak,” said Moore.
“There’s no one spot that all the waves are coming in, so it’s very random. Just having so much out of your control can be very difficult at times.”
The other semi-final sees Marks take on South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag, who eliminated Australian seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore on Monday.
