The Asian Games heat draw paired Kanoa Igarashi with his compatriot Connor O’Leary. Photo: Pat Nolan//WSL
Kanoa Igarashi and Connor O’Leary are the headliners searching for Olympic qualification this week at the Asian Games in Tahara, Japan. However, the two compatriots will find themselves as adversaries in the same round-one heat.
Igarashi and O’Leary will match up against the Maldives’ Kayan Abdulla Areef. On paper, it should be an easy heat pass for the Championship Tour surfers, but the event is expected to kick off in minuscule surf. The Surfline forecast for the venue, Longbeach, is calling for surf to be one to two feet, with a mix of dribbly, short-period wind swells. In those types of waves, anyone with any semblance of an air reverse can find a way to advance.
O’Leary isn’t fazed by the heat draw.
I’ve “been competing with (Igarashi) all year, so it just feels normal, to be honest,” O’Leary told The Inertia. “Hopefully we put on a good show for everyone and represent Japan as best as we can.”
While the first three days of competition will feature small, windy surf, conditions should improve for the last two days, September 28 and 29. Steep south-southwest swell should hit Tahara thanks to Tropical Storm Surigae.
The Asian Games, which feature 23 men and 21 women, award provisional Olympic slots to the winners of the men’s and women’s events. It’ll take six heat wins to win the event. The competition is set to kick off on September 25 in Japan.
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The women’s side of the draw features Paris 2024 Olympian Siqi Yang from China. Amuro Tsuzuki, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, was originally on the competitors list, but was later replaced by Minami Nonaka.
You can find the heat draw and competitor list here.
