2022 ISA World Surfing Games: Day 1 Results, highlights, and livestream heat replays from the Olympic qualifier event
Everything you need to know about the first day of the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games. Results and highlights from September 17, the first Paris 2024 Olympic qualifying event at Huntington Beach, California - Live on Olympics.com
Surfing
Energy was the theme of the opening day of competition at the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games on Saturday, September 17.
It's no surprise the standard of surfing was high at Huntington Beach, California because of how much is on the line.
On top of vying for individual and team gold medals, the 246 athletes from 51 nations are competing for Paris 2024 spots.
The winning men's and women's national teams (NOC's) will be awarded one Olympic slot each for their respective country.
This slot can be in addition to the maximum quota of two athletes per gender, per country. This means some countries will have an additional third spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The men got the competition underway today while the women will start on Monday 19th.
Catch all the action, live on Olympics.com here.
Continue reading for how day one unfolded as new names made their mark on the surfing world and big names tried to continue their legacy.
Moment of the day: Opening heats
At just 15 years of age, Eeli Timperi stole the show at Huntington Beach.
The Finnish surfer won his heat against some of the world's best.
Facing Team USA Olympian, Kolohe Andino and Indonesian Olympian Rio Waida, the gutsy teen showed that the underdog should never be underestimated.
Timperi surfed smart and was rewarded with the heat win with a score of 10.73. Andino scored 9.87 to take second while Waida, who's won two WSL Challenger Series events this year, will now have to compete in the difficult repechage rounds, with his 9.43 score, not enough to proceed in the main draw.
Caught our eye: Surfing debuts
There is nothing quite like doing something for the first time.
Three teams made their ISA World Surfing Games debuts in stunning fashion.
A history making day for Khaled Zirour of Algeria; Donatas Meškauskas, Tim Wijngaarden and Girmantas Neniskis of Lithuania; and from Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Kurdi, Huss Alzaki and Othman Bawareth.
As it happened: Day one results at ISA World Surfing Games 2022
Along with Finland's teen sensation, there were several standouts in the 2-3ft conditions.
Japanese star Kanoa Igarashi claimed the highest single wave and highest heat total. The Tokyo 2020 silver medallist's local knowledge of Huntington Beach clearly payed off.
Lucca Mesinas was on fire. The Peruvian has spent a lot of time at this beach as his uncle lives nearby and he's spent a lot of time honing his craft near the local pier.
The bigget upset of day one came in the final heat when Team USA's Griffin Colapinto was knocked to the repechage round. He will have another chance tomorrow in repechage round two, heat 10.
The competition was then called off due to the conditions deteriorating but the good news is that the forecast looks more promising for tomorrow.
Check out the results from day one here.
Forecast: Day two action and weather
Good news for fans and surfers alike.
Some larger swell is expected than Saturday with 4-5ft waves on the horizon.
In the morning a side onshore SE wind is expected with onshore SSW-SW for the afternoon approximately 5-10 knots.
The action will be jam-packed on Sunday, September 18 too.
As well as keeping an eye on Waida and Colopinto in their respective repechage rounds, look out for Nat Young (USA) and Jadson Andrew (BRA) in heat 5. Another interesting match-up will be between Frederico Morais (POR) and Kolohe Andino (USA).