GKA Mauritius Finals – Day 6 – Whyte to the top

by Matt Pearce on 12 Sep 2017 It was all about the women’s division today as the riders took to the water once again to continue the single-eliminations that began yesterday on day five.

Ninja Maria-Bichler won the first heat of the day (heat 7A) against Carla Herreira Oria before Moona Whyte beat Milla Ferreira in the second heat (heat 7B).

Moona and Ninja then went straight into the single-elimination finals and then, when the wind dropped, the mini-final between Milla and Carla which was up next was put on hold as the competitors waited for the wind fill back in.

It soon did just that and as soon as the red flag went up, signalling the restart of the heat sequence, Milla and Carla headed back out to the reef with Carla charging from the off, choosing the biggest sets and attacking the waves on her front hand with powerful turns off the top. Milla came back with a solid display of her backside surf-influenced riding style before taking a beating from a big set during which her leash snapped, causing her to lose her board and valuable time with it.

Then it was a waiting game as the riders headed back to the beach to wait for the judges’ decisions. The results were radio’d in and it was Moona Whyte taking first place with Ninja-Maria Bichler in second, Carla Herrera Oria in third and Milla Ferreira (not pictured) in fourth.

The standard was high between these four riders but Moona pulled ahead with today's stand-out performance, riding the waves top to bottom and surging out of her bottom turns into powerful, vertical snaps off the lip.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Moona has now won the event as it was straight into the double eliminations as soon as the singles concluded.

In the first heat (heat 10A), Johanna Catherina beat Nadia Abadjiev despite taking a wave on the head and being held down and she progressed to the next round alongside Larisa Fadeeva who had a bye in Heat 10B.

In heat 11A Marie Gautron went it alone after Sasha Gabriel missed their heat (error!) and finally Gisela Pulido also had a bye in the last heat of the day which secures her route to the next round.

The double eliminations will continue tomorrow and the riders briefing is at 10.30 am with a first possible start at 11am.

The plan is to complete the women’s double elimination before hopefully carrying on with the men’s division and the quarter finals and, for Airton, it’s all still to play for. He’s made no slip-ups yet on his way through the rounds but it's not a done deal by any stretch and Matchu will be pushing him all the way and is still very much in with a shot at the title.

There's a strong field of competitors here for this final event who could throw things off course - not the least of which is Kevin Langeree who’ll be Airton’s next opponent!

Let's see what the quarter-finals hold in store.