Hawaii surfers fall short in Australia

The Margaret River Pro, held in Margaret River, Australia, entered the men’s and women’s quarterfinal stages with three Hawaii surfers vying for event victory. Heading into each bracket’s final two rounds, all three Hawaii surfers were out of the competition.

North Shore’s John John Florence, event favorite at the Australian leg, suffered a knee injury during a round of 16 heat. He managed to finish the heat but felt that something was off with his knee. Florence announced on Saturday that he would be withdrawing from the WSL event. He also withdrew from the upcoming Rip Curl Rottnest Search, instead returning to Oahu to focus on recovering for the Tokyo Olympics.

After upsetting world no. 1 Gabriel Medina of Brazil in the round of 16, Honolulu’s Seth Moniz headed to the quarterfinals to take on South Africa’s Matthew McGillivray. He scored a 9.73 on his best two runs of the heat, which proved not to be enough to topple McGillivray’s 15.43, ending Moniz’s run in the event. He finished in fifth place in the men’s bracket.

On the women’s side, Honolulu’s Carissa Moore took on Australian Stephanie Gilmore in heat two of the women’s semifinal. A strong 12.00 for current WSL No. 1 Moore wasn’t enough to put her over WSL No. 5 Gilmore, who scored a narrow victory with a score of 12.24 to advance to the women’s final. Moore finished at third place in the women’s bracket.