The world’s best surfers have arrived in the South Pacific for Stop No. 7 of 11 on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy WSL Championship Tour, the Billabong Pro Tahiti, which holds a competitive window until August 30, 2016.
Event: Billabong Pro Tahiti
Location: Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Event Window: August 19 – 30, 2016
Matt Wilkinson (AUS), John John Florence (HAW) and Gabriel Medina (BRA) lead the WSL Top 34 in Tahiti with past WSL Champions Joel Parkinson (AUS), Kelly Slater (USA) and Adriano de Souza (BRA).
Taj Burrow (AUS) surfed his last Championship Tour event during June’s Fiji Pro. His position on the 2016 WSL Top 34 has been taken by Adam Melling (AUS).
Owen Wright (AUS) and Bede Durbidge (AUS) remain out with injury and have been replaced by Stuart Kennedy (AUS) and Sebastian Zietz (HAW).
Matt Wilkinson (AUS), current World No. 1 on the Jeep Leaderboard, will face compatriot Stuart Kennedy (AUS) and Trials winner Bruno Santos (BRA) in Round 1 Heat 6 when competition commences at Teahupo’o, Tahiti.
Image: WSL / Cestari
Mick Fanning (AUS), three-time WSL Champion and winner of the previous event in Jeffreys Bay, continues his personal year in 2016 and has elected not to surf Tahiti this season. He has been replaced by Dusty Payne (HAW).
Bruno Santos (BRA) and Hira Teriinatoofa (PYF) earned the two wildcard spots into the main event via the Trials held last weekend.
Surfline, forecasters for the Billabong Pro Tahiti, are calling for: A modest run of inconsistent SW shifting SSW swell slowly fills in over Friday, the weekend, and into early next week; with Mon/Tues the 22nd-23rd looking to see the best of it, then easing thereafter. Overall, conditions are looking good for this run with easterly Trades. The longer range is not looking too promising at this point, but there is certainly plenty of time for things to possibly change for the better.
The Billabong Pro Tahiti has a competitive window from August 19 – 30, 2016 and will be webcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com as well as the WSL app.
Source: Press release World Surf League
Der Beitrag Billabong Pro Tahiti 2016 erschien zuerst auf Heartbeatmedia.