Frederico Morais says goodbye to Australia with 17th place in Rottnest Island
This Thursday morning, Frederico Morais said goodbye to the Rip Curl Rottnest Search, the fifth stage of the WSL world circuit, closing the participation in the “Australian leg” with a 17th position.
The Portuguese surfer was eliminated by the Frenchman Michel Bourez in round 3 of the event that took place on a small island off Perth, in Western Australia.
With the test to be resumed in the overlaping heats system Kikas was inserted in heat 7, presenting himself as top seed. Despite his favoritism, Frederico ended up entering the water at a difficult time of the day in Strickland Bay, ending up being more defeated by the sea than by his opponent.
In a 44-minute heat, but with very few reasonable waves, Bourez ended up taking advantage of the few opportunities that existed in the first minutes of the duel, achieving a total of 12.84 points. More patient and expectant, Kikas ended up being more active in the final stretch of the heat, but waves didn’t even see them, with the Portuguese finishing with a score of just 7.50.
An inglorious outcome for Frederico Morais, who in the final minutes was visibly frustrated with the result. This was the sixth clash between Kikas and Michel Bourez, with the Frenchman winning the fourth time. For Bourez, one of the most experienced surfers on the Tour, this was a triumph that gave him some breath, after a shaky start to the season.
In this way, Frederico said goodbye to the race with a 17th position, which will cause a drop in the ranking, where he was 10th placed at the start for this stage. The Cascais surfer thus repeated the position reached in the inaugural stage, in Hawaii, and made the worst record in the four stages played in Australia, where he already had a 3rd place and two 9th places.
Now that the “Australian leg” is finished, Frederico Morais is already aiming at the participation in the ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador, which will take place within a week and where the last places for the Olympic Games will be at stake. Kikas will be part of the Portuguese team that tries to reach more places in Tokyo, after Frederico already got a place in the last Worlds, in 2019.
As for the world circuit, the action returns from the 18th to the 20th of June, with the Surf Ranch Pro, a stage played in the famous artificial wave pool built by Kelly Slater.
