Men & Women continue to showcase excellent surfing on third day of Quiksilver & Roxy Pro Casablanca.
The Quiksilver Pro Casablanca and Roxy Pro Casablanca resumed today in clean three-to-five foot surf at Anfaplace Shopping Center to whittle the fields down further and gear towards an action-packed weekend of high-performance surfing in Morocco.
The women's field was dominated by recent winner of the Azores Airlines Pro pres. by Sumol, Justine Dupont who claimed a near-perfect 9.50 for a two-turn combination on a good left-hander. The French surfer kept the ball rolling and her motivation running high from the thrills of a second victory this season.
Dupont destroyed the lefts on her backhand - WSL / Laurent Masurel
"I didn't have priority for that wave and stayed a little bit on the inside, it just stood up perfectly for me and I managed to do two good turns; I love it when it gets a little steeper like that," she reflected. "I'm simply having a lot of fun competing at the moment and it seems to be working well, I'm confident in my surfing and I learn a little bit from each heat. I'm in touch with my coach Christophe Mouginot all the time and he continues to help me with all the work we've done up until now. I also have my family, my boyfriend and everyone around me just supporting me which makes me very happy. Countless work hours with my physical and technical trainer Nicolas Fernandez and the brilliant boards Rob Vaughan shapes me help a lot too!"
In the men's, Reunion Island's Jorgann Couzinet secured the day's top performance to make his way into the event's third round and continue his bid to become the newest European Champion. With the current regional Top2 surfers absent in Morocco, Couzinet will look to collect a strong finish for a chance to overtake Jonathan Gonzalez and Joan Duru.
Couzinet hits the lip just right for an excellent score - WSL / Laurent Masurel
"I hadn't had a really good feeling in my free surfs before today, but thankfully I managed to turn this around and make a good first heat so I'm happy with this performance," he said. "I want to solidify my rankings and hopefully enter the Hawaiian leg this winter so I'm focused on trying to get more points here. It's only the first heat for me so I'm not getting too excited either but hopefully I can make a couple more heats."
Current QS N°10 Bino Lopes was another strong competitor on this third day of competition as the Brazilian is looking to rebuild momentum towards the end of the Qualifying Series season.
Lopes plays with a frothy last section - WSL / Laurent Masurel
"I'm pretty happy to be here for my first time in Morocco, I'm traveling with my family, my father, mother and sister have come to support me on this European leg and it's a great vibe surrounding me," he stated. "Conditions were really fun, we all got a lot of opportunities which was great so I'm stoked to get going and hope to make a few more heats like this one. The last three events haven't been great for me but I know I'm solid in the rankings and my goal is to get a spot on the CT so this would be a good event to get motivated again before Cascais."
Reigning European Junior Champion Nelson Cloarec dominated his Round Two bout as well and advanced alongside Uruguay's Marco Giorgi, unfortunately eliminating older brother Tom Cloarec in the process.
Cloarec's sharp backhand was best in class - WSL / Laurent Masurel
"With that lighter wind and still a little bit of size I found the waves really good this morning, it was a difficult heat as Tom and I had two tough competitors to try and both make it through," he said. "I was probably a bit luckier and got more waves, we were all sitting close by but it's a matter of only a few meters to get in the right position so luck is definitely involved. When one of us is out we always support each other for the rest of the event, Tom is a great coach and I'm sure he'll help a lot for my next heats."
Other notable performances included South-African Matthew McGillivray's solid 16.43 total for his ticket to Round Three.
McGillivray carves a clean line into Round Three - WSL / Laurent Masurel
Event officials have set the next call for 9:30AM Friday to potentially re-start both the men and women's events depending on conditions.
MagicSeaWeed, official forecaster for the WSL Europe Qualifying Series events, calls for "Swell continues to fade but a more local wind swell could fill in on top. This'll maintain that head high or perhaps larger range but with a lot less structure. Local winds continue to look predominantly onshore." for Friday.
Dupont Highlights Day 3 of Quiksilver & Roxy Pro Casablanca
WSL
The Quiksilver Pro Casablanca and Roxy Pro Casablanca resumed today in clean three-to-five foot surf at Anfaplace Shopping Center to whittle the fields down further and gear towards an action-packed weekend of high-performance surfing in Morocco.
The women's field was dominated by recent winner of the Azores Airlines Pro pres. by Sumol, Justine Dupont who claimed a near-perfect 9.50 for a two-turn combination on a good left-hander. The French surfer kept the ball rolling and her motivation running high from the thrills of a second victory this season.
"I didn't have priority for that wave and stayed a little bit on the inside, it just stood up perfectly for me and I managed to do two good turns; I love it when it gets a little steeper like that," she reflected. "I'm simply having a lot of fun competing at the moment and it seems to be working well, I'm confident in my surfing and I learn a little bit from each heat. I'm in touch with my coach Christophe Mouginot all the time and he continues to help me with all the work we've done up until now. I also have my family, my boyfriend and everyone around me just supporting me which makes me very happy. Countless work hours with my physical and technical trainer Nicolas Fernandez and the brilliant boards Rob Vaughan shapes me help a lot too!"
In the men's, Reunion Island's Jorgann Couzinet secured the day's top performance to make his way into the event's third round and continue his bid to become the newest European Champion. With the current regional Top2 surfers absent in Morocco, Couzinet will look to collect a strong finish for a chance to overtake Jonathan Gonzalez and Joan Duru.
"I hadn't had a really good feeling in my free surfs before today, but thankfully I managed to turn this around and make a good first heat so I'm happy with this performance," he said. "I want to solidify my rankings and hopefully enter the Hawaiian leg this winter so I'm focused on trying to get more points here. It's only the first heat for me so I'm not getting too excited either but hopefully I can make a couple more heats."
Current QS N°10 Bino Lopes was another strong competitor on this third day of competition as the Brazilian is looking to rebuild momentum towards the end of the Qualifying Series season.
"I'm pretty happy to be here for my first time in Morocco, I'm traveling with my family, my father, mother and sister have come to support me on this European leg and it's a great vibe surrounding me," he stated. "Conditions were really fun, we all got a lot of opportunities which was great so I'm stoked to get going and hope to make a few more heats like this one. The last three events haven't been great for me but I know I'm solid in the rankings and my goal is to get a spot on the CT so this would be a good event to get motivated again before Cascais."
Reigning European Junior Champion Nelson Cloarec dominated his Round Two bout as well and advanced alongside Uruguay's Marco Giorgi, unfortunately eliminating older brother Tom Cloarec in the process.
"With that lighter wind and still a little bit of size I found the waves really good this morning, it was a difficult heat as Tom and I had two tough competitors to try and both make it through," he said. "I was probably a bit luckier and got more waves, we were all sitting close by but it's a matter of only a few meters to get in the right position so luck is definitely involved. When one of us is out we always support each other for the rest of the event, Tom is a great coach and I'm sure he'll help a lot for my next heats."
Other notable performances included South-African Matthew McGillivray's solid 16.43 total for his ticket to Round Three.
Event officials have set the next call for 9:30AM Friday to potentially re-start both the men and women's events depending on conditions.
MagicSeaWeed, official forecaster for the WSL Europe Qualifying Series events, calls for "Swell continues to fade but a more local wind swell could fill in on top. This'll maintain that head high or perhaps larger range but with a lot less structure. Local winds continue to look predominantly onshore." for Friday.
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