Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

Rudy Palmbloom, Team South Africa

The Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships hit crunch-time today with the top-rated USA being knocked out of world teams title contention when they lost two Under 16 surfers, Kris Wiernicki and Andrew Doheny, in sudden-death repechage heats.

Defending world champions Hawaii still have all their 12 surfers in the event, along with hosts Brazil, Australia and France. Even though South Africa and New Zealand have lost one surfer each, they can still vie for the overall title with the best three results counting in each division of Under 18 and 16 Boys and Under 18 Girls.

Event director Marcos Bukao said that France has been the big surprise in this year's event, which is at the half-way mark: "We are heading towards the finals on Sunday and France hasn't lost a surfer, which is great for their chance to win medals."

The surf continued to pump consistently at four-to-five feet (1.5 metres) as if it was coming from a machine in the Atlantic Ocean - and the forecast is for the swell to increase.

On a day of high performances, Australia's Owen Wright was a standout, setting a new heat total record of 17.17 (out of 20 points).

Wright, 16, of Culburra, NSW, was in blistering form to defeat France's Pierre Laborde, fellow Australian Christopher Friend and New Zealand's Paco Divers in an Under 16 round three qualifying heat. Friend and Divers now have to contest the repechages to stay alive in the event.

"Every time I paddled out a good wave would come through so I got lucky I guess," Wright said modestly. "Everyone is starting to step up and I expect there will be more big scores in the next few rounds. I'm always looking to better my performance so I'll see how it goes."

France's Marc Lacomare (15.94) and Germany's Nicolas Von Rupp (15.26) also put up big scores in winning their heats to continue their threat for the Under 16 title.

In the blue ribbon Under 18 Boys division, France's Jeremy Flores continued his brilliant form on a borrowed surfboard, and he again posted the round's highest score, 15.67. Flores defeated Tahiti's Heifara Tahutin (13.00), with USA's Eric Geiselmann (10.77) third and Uruguay's Marco Giorgi (7.04) fourth.

Other top performers in the Under 18 Boys included Australia's Julian Wilson (15.5) and USA's Cory Arrambide (14.23).

Flores's French team-mates Pauline Ado (15.10) and Lee-Ann Curren (14.17) also had strong victories in the Under 18 Girls round three qualifying heats.

Flores, originally from Reunion Island but now based in New Caledonia, said he was still unsure about the board, which he borrowed from Brazilian friend and competitor, Wiggolly Dantas, who also won his heat today.

"I don't know it (the board) very well so I really have to get the best waves to make the difference," Flores said.

Flores said the French team was doing very well and, referring to Curren, he said: "She always gets the best waves, she probably has it in her genes. She's really fit too so I think she's confident."

Australia's Jessica Hickson posted the highest heat score, 15.17, of the Under 18 Girls round three qualifying today.

Hickson, 18, from Boomerang Beach, NSW, said the score was a confidence booster going into the next round. "There is a lot of good competition so it's definitely getting harder as we progress through the event," Hickson said. "The team is really supportive  managers, coaches, parents and peers  so that's a big help."