Playa Venao proved its ability to deliver, with smaller but consistent and well-shaped two-to-three foot waves on offer.

After today, only 25 surfers remain in the competition out of the 173 at the beginning of the event. The team ratings are:

1- Australia – 19120 points
2- Brazil – 17200 points
3- France - 15700 points
4- South Africa – 15640 points
5- Venezuela – 14520 points

Australia’s chances are looking very promising with five surfers still in the competition. All five are in the Main Event Final.

Ten surfers—four in Longboard, four in Open Men and two in Open Women—made it to the Repechage Round 9 and are now two steps away from the Grand Final.

Santiago Muñiz (ARG), Michael Rodriguez (BRA), Manuel Selman (CHI) and Marco Giorgi (URU) advanced in their Round 8 match-ups and will now face off with the goal of keeping their golden dream alive.

The Open Men division saw the highest level of action, with intensely close heats being decided in the last few seconds. In the first heat, only 0.84 separated the winner from the loser: Santiago Muñiz finished first with a combined total of 15.80, Michael Rodriguez in second with 15.34 and Jeremy Flores with 14.96.

Heat winner Muñiz said, “I’m stoked with this result. I made it with a Brazilian surfer that is an old friend of mine. I beat one of my idols, Jeremy Flores, (FRA) who competes in the World Tour. I’m stoked with that, but now I’ll take it heat by heat.

”In the Longboard division, Taylor Jensen (USA), Antoine Delpero (FRA), Heifara Tahutini (TAH) and Remy Arauzo (FRA) made it through their rounds and are now two steps away from the podium.

With a combined total of 15.80 (8.40+7.40), Taylor Jensen was again the best longboarder of the day. After his heat, he commented, “I’ve been trying to get busy. I can’t afford to lose. If I lose I’m out. When you move on towards the end of any event everything’s critical, so you have to step up your game every heat.”

In the Women’s division, Silvana Lima was the absolute standout; she won her two heats with excellent combined scores (19.40 and 16.94 respectively). In her Round 4 match-up she scored the first and only perfect 10 of the entire event. After doing a stylish carve, she boosted a big air and finished with a grab-rail tail slide. She backed that up with a 9.40, ending a combined total of 19.40 out of a possible 20.

“Today was a great day for me. I surfed the heat pretty well and my board feels great,” said Lima. “I really wanted to do an aerial on that wave, and I pulled it off. The score I got goes to all the Brazilian people.”

Nikita Robb (RSA) and Paige Hareb (NZL) made it through Round 6 and are now two steps away from medaling.

Alize Arnaud (FRA), Silvana Lima (BRA) and Tanika Hoffman (RSA) had intended to compete against each other in an afternoon heat, but it was suspended after a storm suddenly descended on the event site with strong, tropical storm onshore winds. Their match-up will now take place on Friday at 10:00 a.m.

Costa Rica and Ecuador joined Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Mexico, Ireland, Canada, Jamaica, Colombia, Israel, Nicaragua, Japan, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama as the countries with all of their surfers eliminated from the competition.

Tomorrow, the Aloha Cup (Tag Team) competition will take place immediately following the rescheduled Open Women’s heat. The following eight teams will go head-to-head for the event medals:

Semifinal 1

Peru, Brazil, Tahiti and Panama

Semifinal 2

Australia, South Africa, USA and New Zealand

Watch the event LIVE WEBCAST beginning at 10:00 a.m. (local time), 8:00 a.m. (US PDT), 11:00 a.m. (US EDT) and 1:00 a.m. (Australian EST).