Kiwi duo still alive at world junior surfing champs

Sarah Mason and Ben Poulter kept the New Zealand flag flying as the ISA world junior surfing championships headed towards their grand finale at Piha.

Mason won her sudden-death repechage round five under 18 girls' heat on Wednesday.

Enjoying the clean conditions on Auckland’s west coast, Mason produced a score of 12.60 for her combined two best waves to edge out American Lakey Peterson (11.16). Fellow Americans Taylor Pitz and Courtney Conlogue were eliminated.

The Aussie-based Kiwi is now just two heats away from a potential final on Thursday, the last day of competition.

Raglan surfer Poulter is still in the thick of the mix of the under 16 division after finishing second in his fifth round qualifying heat.

Poulter (13.06) was edged by Japan’s Hiroti Arai (14.16) in their three-man heat but managed to progress at the expense of highly rated American Kolohe Andino (10.70).

Poulter still has the bonus of an extra life and has positioned himself for a good shot at making the final with just 10 surfers left in the competition.

It wasn’t such good news for Alex Dive (Mt Maunganui) in the under 18 boys division as he finished third in his round six repechage heat to be eliminated.

- © Fairfax NZ News