{"id":31656,"date":"2012-07-30T18:14:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T01:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=31656"},"modified":"2012-07-30T18:18:05","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T01:18:05","slug":"falling-heroes-trip-up-us-open-of-surfing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=31656","title":{"rendered":"Falling Heroes Trip Up US Open Of Surfing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Miguel-Pupo-Day-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The big boys of the dream tour had a rough go in round one at the Nike US Open of Surfing<\/a><\/strong>. For a while it seemed like none of the ASP’s top 16 would make it out alive: Mick Fanning<\/strong>, Taylor Knox<\/strong>, Ace Buchan<\/strong>, Owen Wright<\/strong>, Taj Burrow<\/strong>, CJ<\/strong> and Damien Hobgood<\/strong>, and Matt Wilkinson<\/strong> all fell sputtering in the Huntington Beach surf.<\/p>\n

There were, however, some survivors in the four man heats in two foot (maybe) waves: Jordy Smith<\/strong>, Kelly Slater<\/strong>, Freddy P<\/strong>, Gabriel Medina<\/strong>, Adriano de Souza<\/strong>, Michel Bourez<\/strong>, Bede Durbidge<\/strong>, Josh Kerr<\/strong>, and Dane Reynolds<\/strong> (remember him?). Miguel Pupo<\/strong>, (pictured above) who had the highest heat score of the day with a 18.07, was worried after seeing some many great surfers get knocked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some crazy heats in the first round and I saw Mick (Fanning) and Owen (Wright) go down, so I was kind of nervous,\u201d Pupo said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a difficult wave to surf and in these tough conditions, so I\u2019m happy to make it through.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brett Simpson<\/strong> and John John Florence<\/strong> haven’t surfed yet (they surf tomorrow) and hopefully, they’ll survive their heats. For a complete results breakdown, and the official word from the ASP, follow the jump.World\u2019s Best Flare Amidst Upsets at Nike US Open of Surfing<\/p>\n

Pictured: Miguel Pupo (BRA), 20, amassed the day’s highest heat total of 18.07 out of 20 in Round 1 of Nike US Open of Surfing action.<\/p>\n

Credit: IMG<\/p>\n

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California\/USA (Monday, July 30, 2012) \u2013 The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Nike US Open of Surfing dove in to Round 1 of men\u2019s competition today and saw several of the world\u2019s best surfers put on banner performances amidst a day of heavy upsets.<\/p>\n

Miguel Pupo (BRA), 20, led his fellow ASP WCT competitors by staying busy in his opening heat and relied on his refined aerial tactics to earn some of the day\u2019s top scores. The Brazilian goofy footer launched one of the highest single-wave scores including a near-perfect 9.07 en route to the round\u2019s high heat-total of 18.07 out of 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew the waves were kind of slow and there was a long wait in between sets so I was getting everything I could,\u201d Pupo said. \u201cI was looking for the airs because, coming from Brazil, you learn how to get good scores in these types of waves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pupo was admittedly relieved to have a strong start to his Nike US Open campaign after watching several of his fellow ASP WCT campaigners fall in Round 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some crazy heats in the first round and I saw Mick (Fanning) and Owen (Wright) go down, so I was kind of nervous,\u201d Pupo said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a difficult wave to surf and in these tough conditions, so I\u2019m happy to make it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Kerr (AUS), 28, was another ASP WCT standout to prevail in a day full of upsets and notched the day\u2019s highest single-wave score of 9.50 out of 10 for an outside aerial and polished inside turn to secure his Round 1 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really haven\u2019t surfed since Fiji because of my injury and I\u2019m still not feeling that great,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cI can do whatever I want, but I\u2019m still not feeling 100 percent. It has almost given me motivation and it was good to get a good start out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Slater (USA), 40, reigning 11-time ASP World Champion and defending Nike US Open of Surfing Champion, wasted little time to assert his dominance in Round 1. The iconic regular-footer led the heat throughout the entirety of the 30 minute bout despite a recent rib injury and was feeling rested after his forced down time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really surfed for the last few weeks,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI hurt my ribs really bad after the Tavarua contest and took two weeks off. I did some more rehab, so I\u2019ve just been resting and hoping it heals. I\u2019ve come in fresh with a new board and it seemed to work. I felt like I was connecting with my Florida roots out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitch Crews (AUS), 22, was electric in his Nike US Open of Surfing debut and took a convincing Round 1 victory to eliminate current ASP World No. 3 Owen Wright (AUS), 22. Crews felt he had been in a slump as of late and his early victory in Huntington Beach represents a breath of fresh air for his global campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really fun out there,\u201d Crews said. \u201cI haven\u2019t surfed in small conditions in over a month because it was pumping at home on the Gold Coast and in South Africa so it was weird to go out there and do alright. I got sick in South Africa and I just decided to go home for 10 days and hang out. I\u2019m feeling good now, it\u2019s US Open and I\u2019m stoked that I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan Geiselman (New Smyrna Beach, FL), 18, who was competing for the first time since breaking his foot just a few months ago, quickly found a rhythm in his morning heat to upset current ASP World No. 1 and two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS), 31, in his opening affair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really couldn\u2019t have worked out any better,\u201d Geiselman said. \u201cI had a great rhythm and I\u2019ve been working so hard to recover. My goal was to be back in time for this event and my doctors said I had no chance. I was so nervous and so anxious even this morning and I\u2019m usually good with that. All the nerves had built up because it\u2019d been two months since I\u2019ve surfed and I\u2019m really happy with that opening heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s competition will resume tomorrow morning at 7:30am local time. Also surfing tomorrow will be the opener of the Women\u2019s Nike US Open of Surfing. To watch the event LIVE log on to www.usopenofsurfing.com<\/p>\n

While the action in the water is guaranteed to provide plenty of entertainment, the Nike US Open of Surfing, owned and operated by IMG, a global leader in sports and entertainment, is part of a major action sports festival that includes skateboarding, music, art and more.<\/p>\n

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org<\/p>\n

For complimentary high-res images and video news releases please email bobby@aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n

NIKE US OPEN OF SURFING ROUND OF 96 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: Evan Geiselman (USA) 14.86, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 14.20, Nathan Hedge (AUS) 12.77, Mick Fanning (AUS) 6.66
\nHeat 2: Kai Otton (AUS) 11.93, Alain Riou (PYF) 7.23, Adrien Toyon (FRA) 6.93, Taylor Knox (USA) 3.37
\nHeat 3: Jay Thompson (AUS) 14.70, Tim Reyes (USA) 14.20, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.27, Nathan Yeomans (USA) 8.72
\nHeat 4: Mitch Crews (AUS) 16.70, Tomas Hermes (BRA) 12.77, Owen Wright (AUS) 12.64, Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 11.13
\nHeat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.67, Nathaniel Curran (USA) 12.10, Romain Cloitre (FRA) 8.64, Joel Centeio (HAW) 7.24
\nHeat 6: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 18.07, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.56, Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 10.36, Charles Martin (GLP) 8.53
\nHeat 7: Kiron Jabour (HAW) 13.60, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.60, Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 9.93, Glenn Hall (IRL) 8.96
\nHeat 8: Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.53, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 10.22, Jack Freestone (AUS) 9.73, Taj Burrow (AUS) 8.60
\nHeat 9: Daniel Ross (AUS) 11.43, Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 10.87, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.80, Cory Lopez (USA) 7.76
\nHeat 10: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 13.60, Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.54, Joan Duru (FRA) 11.50, Garrett Parkes (AUS) 6.73
\nHeat 11: Stu Kennedy (AUS) 12.90, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 11.14, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 8.50, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 6.71
\nHeat 12: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.20, Jay Quinn (NZL) 12.90, Torrey Meister (HAW) 12.37, Chris Ward (USA) 11.57
\nHeat 13: Dion Atkinson (AUS) 16.50, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.24, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 14.43, Jean Da Silva (BRA) 12.47
\nHeat 14: Adam Melling (AUS) 15.43, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 9.70, Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 9.67, Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.19
\nHeat 15: Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.94, Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 10.80, Hank Gaskell (HAW) 10.44, Blake Thornton (AUS) 4.88
\nHeat 16: Granger Larsen (HAW) 16.80, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.56, Conner Coffin (AUS) 13.76, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 8.27
\nHeat 17: Josh Kerr (AUS) 18.00, Gabe Kling (USA) 13.27, Andrew Doheny (USA) 11.83, Mason Ho (HAW) 7.00
\nHeat 18: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 14.00, Caio Ibelli (BRA) 12.00, Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.60, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 7.00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big boys of the dream tour had a rough go in round one at the Nike US Open of Surfing. For a while it seemed like none of the ASP’s top 16 would make it out alive: Mick Fanning, Taylor Knox, Ace Buchan, Owen Wright, Taj Burrow, CJ and Damien Hobgood, and Matt Wilkinson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31656"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31659,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31656\/revisions\/31659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}