Capetonian Luke Slijpen is the only South African left in the men’s Ballito Pro surfing competition.
He will take on the men’s round of 32 later this week after qualifying through the round of 64 this morning.
Durban’s Luke Thompson appeared to have qualified after finishing second in his heat, but an interference penalty imposed after the surfers were out of the water meant only one of his waves ended up counting.
He joined Cape Town’s Paul Sampson as the other Saffa knocked out during today’s surfing action.
Photo: Pierre Tostee/WSL.
Slijpen will be in competition in heat 1 of the round of 32, taking on Australians Morgan Cibilic and Joel Vaughan and Frenchman Gatien Delahaye.
Jessie van Niekerk, Sarah Baum and Louise Lepront are the remaining South Africans on the women’s side, and they too have the round of 32 to look forward to.
Van Niekerk will surf against Championship Tour powerhouse Isabella Nichols (Australia), Kirra Pinkerton (USA) and Amuro Tsuzuki (Japan) in heat 1.
Baum has a mouthwatering contest upcoming against the legendary Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia), South-African-born Philippa Anderson (Australia) and Sara Wakita (Japan) in heat 5.
Photo: Kody McGregor/WSL.
Lepront will be the last South African to surf and will do so in heat 7, which includes Nadia Erostarbe (Basque Country), Ariane Ochoa (Basque Country) and Bella Kenworthy (USA).
All forecasts are pointing towards fantastic morning surf conditions over the next few days, so expect some top-quality surfing action at Willard Beach.
The call as to whether the contest is on tomorrow will be made at 7am
Follow live results and a free livestream of the event here.
- Note: This story has been updated to reflect Thompson’s penalty and knock out.
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