OUTERKNOWN FIJI PRO CALLED ON
– ROUND 4 CALLED ON FOR 8:15 AM START
– WATCH LIVE AT WORLDSURFLEAGUE.COM

Caption: Italo Ferreira (BRA) will face 2017 CT Rookie Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) and Michel Bourez (PYF) in Round 4 Heat 2 of the OK Fiji Pro.
Credit: © WSL / Sloane

TAVARUA/NAMOTU, Fiji (Wednesday, June 14, 2017) – The Outerknown Fiji Pro, Stop No. 5 on the 2017 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), has been called ON for an 8:15 a.m. start in three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) conditions at Cloudbreak. Men’s Round 4 will get underway today with Round 5 on standby for a possible start.

“We are seeing clean conditions out there at Cloudbreak,” said WSL Deputy Commissioner, Renato Hickel. “Round 4 is on and we will start at 8:15 a.m. local time. We will put Round 5 on hold for a possible start. We will check back in after the Round 4 to see if we will continue running heats.”

With big names falling out of the competition after yesterday’s Round 3 eliminations, only 8 of the Top 10 surfers remain in the draw. The surfers will look to capitalize on their Round 4 heats to earn a spot directly into the Quarterfinals.

Italian rookie Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) will face two of the most in-form surfers at Cloudbreak, Italo Ferreira (BRA) and Michel Bourez (PYF) in Round 4 Heat 2.

Round 4 Heat 3 will witness a clash between the veteran and the rookies as 2012 WSL Champion Joel Parkinson (AUS) takes on freshmen Joan Duru (FRA) and Connor O’Leary (AUS).

Sebastian Zietz (HAW) has yet to make it to the finals series this season and will fight to defeat Australians Bede Durbidge (AUS) and Stuart Kennedy (AUS) in Round 4 Heat 4.

Up first will be 2017 CT Rookie Ian Gouveia (BRA) against 2017 World Title contenders Julian Wilson (AUS) and Matt Wilkinson (AUS). The pressure is now on Wilkinson, who is the only surfer who can take the Jeep Leader Jersey away from John John Florence (HAW), but he needs to win the event in order to do so.

Surfline, the official forecaster for the Outerknown Fiji Pro, are calling for:

The swell that filled in through the afternoon on Tuesday will ease through Wednesday. New, long period forerunners should start to slowly build late Wednesday, but the bulk of the SSW swell arrives and peaks on Thursday with medium to fairly solid surf, easing into Friday morning. A final SSW swell looks likely to build over the afternoon/evening on Friday. Moderate, albeit somewhat variable, ESE trades on Wednesday will give way to building and breezier SE trades Thur-Fri. 

The event will be broadcast LIVE via WorldSurfLeague.com, the WSL app and on Facebook LIVE via the WSL’s Facebook page. Also check the local listings for coverage on CBS Sports Network in the U.S., Fox Sports in Australia, ESPN in Brazil, Sky NZ in New Zealand, SFR Sports in France and Portugal and as part of the EDGEsport Network.

For more information, check out WorldSurfLeague.com.

Outerknown Fiji Men’s Pro Round 4 Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Ian Gouveia (BRA), Julian Wilson (AUS), Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 2: Italo Ferreira (BRA), Michel Bourez (PYF), Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA)
Heat 3: Joan Duru (FRA), Connor O’Leary (AUS), Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Sebastian Zietz (HAW), Stuart Kennedy (AUS)