Hawaiian surfer Barron Mamiya delivered a dominant performance in the Round of 16 at the Margaret River Pro on Wednesday, following an early-morning reconnaissance mission to watch local expert Jack Robinson surf The Box.
Mamiya, 24, said he hadn’t surfed the slab wave — located approximately 700 metres north of Main Break — in several years and had only limited experience there. Ahead of his heat, he paddled out before sunrise to observe Robinson, a Margaret River local known for his mastery of the notoriously challenging break.
“I hadn’t surfed there in two or three years,” Mamiya said. “I knew Jack was out because he was sending some videos in the group chat early, early. And I was like, ‘I’m going to go out there and watch him.’
“I sat in the channel and just watched him for like an hour. I was kind of just watching where he was taking off and what he was doing, and the waves that he wanted. Once I did that, I got a good idea.”
The approach paid off. When heats resumed later that morning in pumping 6-to-8-foot conditions, Mamiya posted the top six scoring rides of his heat against American Jake Marshall. His performance included back-to-back scores of 8.00 and 7.17 for deep tube rides, securing a convincing two-wave total of 15.17 to Marshall’s 5.73.
Mamiya will next face Japanese-Australian goofy-footer Connor O’Leary, who defeated Kanoa Igarashi in another strong showing. O’Leary, who came into the event on the brink of falling below the World Surf League’s mid-season cutline, guaranteed his spot for the remainder of the season with the win.
“Getting through the cut yesterday was a huge weight off my shoulders,” O’Leary said following his 8.50 to 2.50 victory. “Coming into today, I just set myself with no expectations. It was a different challenge — less nerve-wracking and less stressful — and more like an exciting opportunity to get a good barrel.”
Earlier in the day, American Griffin Colapinto delivered one of the standout rides of the event. The 25-year-old emerged from a deep barrel and raised his arm in celebration, scoring a 9.00 during his heat win over Australian wildcard Mikey McDonagh.
“I feel like that is one of the best heats of my life,” Colapinto said. “Getting barrelled in the jersey is the dream. That 9.00, I was kind of baffled myself. I got to the bottom and thought I could stand tall and cruise, but the wave was so fast the foam ball just lifted me up — I almost went 180 degrees backward. I thought I blew it, but then it shot me back out.”
Western Australian surfer Jacob Willcox and Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti also secured quarterfinal berths before the competition was moved back to Main Break due to changing conditions.
South Africa’s Jordy Smith, who has climbed to No.2 in the world rankings, and Hawaii’s Imaikalani deVault, who must win the event to avoid elimination under the mid-season cut, also advanced from the remaining Round of 16 heats.
Organisers later called off competition due to deteriorating conditions, with the event expected to resume on Monday, the second-last day of the competition window.
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