Credit / ISA / Pablo Jiménez/ Surfing NZ
Kehu Butler (Ngāi Te Rangi) will join Dune Kennings (Ngāti Maniapoto) in the repechage rounds on Monday (NZT) after narrowly missing the opportunity to advance to the next stage of competition on the main draw at the ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador.
Kennings was first to hit the waves Monday, grabbing a morale-boosting victory in his repechage heat.
Butler moved into the third round after an "outstanding" victory in his opening matchup of the games which are a primary qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and a second-place finish in a round 2 heat won by Japan's Kanoa Igarashi.
But Butler was "pipped" in his most recent heat, finishing third with a round 3 total of 9.20 points, behind winner Israel's Uri Uziel (11.84) who beat second-placed Kauli Vaast of France by the finest of margins (11.83). Brazil's Filipe Toledo was fourth (2.67).
Kennings has had a lay day following his first-up round 1 win and second round 3rd that saw him relegated to the repechage rounds.
The NZ national champion has said he "can't wait to get back out there".
At Monday's repechage, Kennings topped his heat with 11.30 points, from Israel's Yoni Klein (10.53) in second, third-placed American Samoan Liam Wilson (8.83) and Austria's Manuel Paulitsch who finished in fourth spot (1.43).
He now progresses through to the next men's repechage phase where he will meet Uruguay's Marco Giorgi, Kevin Cortez of Nicaragua and Dimitri Papavassiliou of Greece.