Basque surfers Andy Criere and Garazi Sánchez were the big winners of the first stage of the Super Liga Siroko 2018, which concluded today in Berria in clean but smaller conditions than yesterday.

The day began with the ladies, who had several rounds ahead of them since only one round of the division had been held yesterday.

In the first heat, Basques Garazi Sanchez and Nadia Erostarbe continued in their competitive mode and advanced without many problems. One of the important absences after this round 2 was Bilbao native Leticia Canales, who has been demonstrating a very high level of surfing in previous QSs but who did not have a good day against the event debutant Iara Dominguez, who advanced with fluid surfing and without mistakes until the semi-finals.

As happened the day before, as the tide rose the conditions improved and thanks to the wind stopping, a long and clean right was defined that held up well until the finals.

The ladies' quarterfinals followed, with the two 100% Basque semi-finals being decided between Iara Dominguez and Garazi Sánchez and Zarautz's Ainara Aymat and Nadia Erostarbe.

Then it was the men's turn, which started with a solid Hodei Collazo and Pablo Gutiérrez who made it to the semi-finals. In the following quarter-final heats, as in the girls' heats, the Basques dominated: Both Andy Criere and Ethan Egiguren continued with electric surfing and applying force in each manoeuvre. Not only did they delight the public but the judges also knew how to reward them with the best wave of the day for Andy Criere (8,67) and the best combination for the Oiartzun native Ethan Egiguren (15). Roberto Damico and Jatyr Beresaluze could not beat the northerners.

When the women's semi-finals began, the right seemed to be getting better and better. In the first heat, Garazi Sánchez finished with a more than remarkable first participation by the Guipuzcoan Iara Dominguez. With 6 minutes to go, Garazi sealed the win with what was the best wave of the girls (8 points) thanks to her trademark power surfing.

The second semi-final was a death match between Ainara Aymat and Nadia Erostarbe. Both left their friendship as neighbours on the sand and dedicated themselves to surfing wave after wave until Ainara put Nadia on the ropes thanks to a beautiful backside and put her name in the grand final.

At three in the afternoon and after six intense hours of competition, Ethan Egiguren and Hodei Collazo entered the water for their semi 1 contest. The more experienced rider took the cat out of the water with powerful and accurate surfing, with only three waves, he accumulated two notable scores that added up to a total of 14 points. Ethan came close and surfed all his waves from top to bottom but he didn't get high enough scores to spoil Collazo's party.

Another top-level semi-final followed: local Pablo Gutiérrez, also known as “El Matador”, and the stylish Andy Criere. Both started off strong with a 7 for the first and an 8 for the second, which he would immediately round off with another 6-point wave. The remaining 15 minutes of the heat were a continuous battle for priority, looking for the right moment to win. Pablo kept the young Basque in suspense until the last moment with a wave on the horn that got the local crowd up but which he was unable to finish. Andy spoiled the party for the locals with impeccable surfing.

The women's final was a tough match between Ainara Aymat and Garazi Sánchez; Zarautz against Sopelana.

The final was slow, with a very full tide and high quality but very changing peaks that drove the competitors crazy. With barely any points on the scoreboard, Garazi went down one looking for some action and although she didn't find anything exceptional, it was enough to snatch the final from Aymat.

“We had been waiting for a long time and I decided to go down to score points to try to put some pressure on Ainara and it seems that it worked out well this time,” said Garazi after winning the final. “The truth is that the tiredness of the long day of competition was starting to weigh on my arms and legs but in the end what counts is winning and that is what we did,” concluded the surfer from Sopelana.

Finally, the boys entered with a very concentrated Andy Criere and Hodei Collazo. Both surfers took their respective notes watching the girls and decided to continue with the epoxy looking for that extra buoyancy that the conditions seemed to require. Andy led the way and did not drop from the first position from the first minutes of the final. With five minutes to go and after a lot of strategy, both brought out their full repertoire with a powerful 8 by Andy that closed with a very aggressive spray leaving Hodei practically without options.

"I was surprised by how he pumped up compared to what we saw during the final of  “Girls,” said a brilliant Andy. “I wasn’t thinking too much, things were going well, I was finishing the turns well so everything has been flowing. Without a doubt these are the heats you remember, and even more so in a final against Hodei Collazo. You don’t win every day” concluded Andy.