After three successive lay-days, men’s competition has restarted at the World Surf League’s (WSL) Tahiti Pro, although the three Australian women through to the last-eight will have to wait a little longer to discover their fate.
Poor conditions at the Teahupo’o break had left surfers becalmed for several sessions, but organisers called competition on for Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) with the men’s eliminations and round of 16 taking precedence.
The women’s side of the Tahiti Pro – which doubles up as a test run for next year’s Olympic surfing at the same venue – has already reached the quarter-final stage, with Australians Tyler Wright, Molly Picklum and Stephanie Gilmore all taking their place in the last-eight.
Eight-time world champion Gilmore is ranked seventh and in danger of not making the end-of-season finals.
She needs a big result in Tahiti to reach the WSL’s all-important top five and will hope to get her chance on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
Gilmore will take on US surfer Caroline Marks when women’s competition restarts, while world No.2 Wright will surf against Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb and Picklum – ranked fourth – will challenge Caitlin Simmers of the United States.
Of the men, world No.8 Jack Robinson moved straight through to the round of 16 by convincingly winning his heat earlier in the week but fellow Aussies Ryan Callinan, Callum Robson and Connor O’Leary all failed to move through Tuesday’s elimination rounds.