Inaba advances as Igarashi, O'Leary are dumped from Olympic surfing

Japan's Reo Inaba reached the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympic Games surfing competition in Tahiti on Monday, but his countrymen Kanoa Igarashi, the Tokyo Games silver medalist, and Connor O'Leary did not.

The French Polynesian reef break of Teahupo'o delivered on its promise of huge swells, giving the surfers a great opportunity for deep barrels and high scores, but neither Inaba nor his opponent Filipe Toledo were able to find the waves they needed.

Brazil's Gabriel Medina gets a barrel in the fifth heat of the men's surfing third round during the Paris Olympic Games in Teahupo'o off the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti, on Monday. Image: Ben Thouard/Pool via AP

Inaba totaled just 6.00 points in Round 3, with a best single-wave score of 3.17, but it was enough to beat his Brazilian foe who could only tally 2.46.

The U.S.-born 26-year-old Igarashi had similar struggles with scores of just 3.67 and 3.37 on his waves, but his challenger Gabriel Medina of Brazil did the necessary with his 17.40 total, including one spectacular wave that scored a near-perfect 9.90.

O'Leary was in great position late in his heat, having managed a stellar 8.00-point ride on his third wave, but his Australian opponent Ethan Ewing pulled into a massive barrel on his fourth attempt, scoring 8.67 to snatch a quarterfinal place away from the Japanese.

At the end of the heat, O'Leary, who was born in Sydney, tallied 11.00 points, 3.17 fewer than Ewing.

Inaba is set to meet Peru's Alonso Correa in the quarterfinal on Tuesday.