Bryan Perez and Kauli Vaast show tenacity in back-to-back heats
El Salvador native Bryan Perez also got plenty of cheers as he won the men’s first and second-round heats within hours of each other.
“I’m feeling great. I’m feeling first of all, super grateful,” Perez told Olympics.com. “Stoked to be here again with my team, with my family, with the whole country behind me. It’s a blessing to be here again.”
Nicknamed “The Pink Panther” for his sometimes pink surfboards, Perez is the host nation’s biggest hope for a medal at the 2025 World Surfing Games. He finished 49th in the last edition that was held on his home waves, but now returns with the additional experience of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and three more wildcard appearances on the WSL Championship Tour to back up his ambitions.
“I want to win,” Perez said. “That was my dream always to be the champion in ISA, so I just focus on that, heat by heat.”
A fellow Paris 2024 Olympian and ultimately Olympic champion, Kauli Vaast, also faced the tough task of surfing two heats on the second day of competition.
While the French surfer made it through the heats, winning the first round with 9.77 points in La Bocana and getting 8.57 in the second round in El Sunzal, the competition was far from easy for Vaast. Both heats had him groping for a decent second-wave score.
He put himself on the board with 5.17 in the first round, but could not catch another wave for the next 15 minutes. In the second round, Vaast initially went into first place with a 6.50, but dropped into repechage territory as the heat went on and he could not catch another wave until a 2.07 shortly before the final buzzer.
“It was nothing, but that’s the only thing I could do. I thought the wave was good and it was bad,” Vaast told Olympics.com. “I never had the opportunity, so it was really interesting to adapt myself into the rhythm of the wave, of the ocean.”
Used to 30-minute heats on the WSL Challenger Series, Vaast said the 20-minute format at the World Surfing Games is still a challenge, despite his experience at previous editions of the event: “It goes so fast and you just have to be ready for anything, so just adapt yourself, adapt to the wave, adapt your body, your physical condition and everything. It’s really quick. You’ve got to be fast.”