WSL PRESS RELEASE
COOLANGATTA, Queensland/AUS (Wednesday, March 14, 2018) – Stop No. 1 on the 2018 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast, will continue today in bumpy four-to-five foot (1.2 – 1.5 metre) conditions at Snapper Rocks in Australia. Men’s Round 3 will start at 7:30 a.m. local time. Women’s Semifinals and men’s Round 4 will be on standby to run, conditions pending.
“As expected, we have arrived at Snapper Rocks this morning to find an increase in wave heights,” said WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow. “The wind has come up strong from the SE, which is creating a little bit of texture on the surface, but we still have clean wave faces. We have some incredible matchups in men’s Round 3, and we are hoping to see the waves to continue to improve throughout the day to run the women’s Semifinals and men’s Round 4.”
The opening heat of men’s Round 3 will see rookie Willian Cardoso (BRA) take on defending event winner Owen Wright (AUS). Cardoso will battle to play spoiler at this year’s event and take down the crowd-favorite at Snapper Rocks.
In his second-to-last event before retirement, Mick Fanning (AUS), three-time WSL Champion, will need to get through Californian Conner Coffin (USA) in Round 3 Heat 2.
Mikey Wright (AUS) upset the competition yesterday by taking out World No. 1 John John Florence (HAW) and will now look to continue the trend by eliminating World No. 2 Gabriel Medina (BRA) in Heat 6 of Round 3.
Surfline, WSL forecast partner, is calling for:
Rising shorter period E swell today with good size surf for Thursday. Good size surf continues Friday but this is trending down into the weekend. Long range guidance points to more mid-size but shorter period ESE/SE swell around the last couple days of the event window.
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast Round 3 Matchups:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Tomas Hermes (BRA)
Heat 4: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Italo Ferreira (BRA)
Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Mikey Wright (AUS)
Heat 7: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Michael February (ZAF)
Heat 8: Frederico Morais (PRT) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
Heat 9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Griffin Colapinto (USA)
Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Wade Carmichael (AUS)
Heat 11: Connor O’Leary (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Michael Rodrigues (BRA)
Roxy Pro Gold Coast Semifinal Matchups:
Heat 1: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Malia Manuel (HAW)
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) vs. Keely Andrew (AUS)
For more information, check out WorldSurfLeague.com.
