Frederico Morais, the three-time Portuguese champion and the only Portuguese on the WSL’s main circuit, came in fourth and last place in heat 55, with 8.40 points, behind Joshua Burke (9), from Bermuda, Jeremy Flores (9.90), from France, and Ryan Huckabee (10.1), from the United States.

In turn, Vasco Ribeiro, four times Portuguese champion, won heat 58 with 12 points, beating Indonesia’s Rio Waida (9,47), Israel’s Yoni Klein (8,5) and the Venezuelan Francisco Bellorin (4,26).

In round four of this International Surfing Association (ISA) event, ‘Vasquinho’ will face the Indonesian Aditya Putra and the Spaniard Aritz Aranburu (heat 66), while ‘Kikas’ will compete against the Canadian Cody Young, in heat 122 of the fourth stage of the play-off.

The other Portuguese competitor, Miguel Blanco, has not yet entered the sea on this third day of the competition, being placed on heat 102 of the second stage of the play-off, against the Swiss Michael Zaugg.

The World Surfing Games in El Salvador, which runs until 6 June, will decide the last 12 spots for the sport’s debut at the Olympic Games (Tokyo2020).