Yago Dora sends World Surf League into meltdown with perfect 10 aerial

Australian Morgan Cibilic has produced a last-gasp special to book a spot in the New Zealand Pro semi-finals, but the day belonged to Yago Dora after the defending world champion pulled off one of the best aerials in World Surf League history.

Dora was in deep trouble in his quarter-final heat against Cole Houshmand in Manu Bay on Sunday, needing a 9.50 point ride to advance with little more than three minutes on the clock.

The Brazilian has a knack of producing the goods under pressure, but what he pulled off to snare the win against Houshmand was simply ridiculous.

Dora built up speed on the wave before unleashing an outlandish full rotation aerial that earned him about two seconds of hang time. His landing was perfect, with Dora completing a series of sharp snaps to put the exclamation point on the wave.

The five judges were all in agreement – a perfect 10 – with the result thrusting Dora into a semi-final showdown against fellow Brazilian Italo Ferreira, who also produced a memorable aerial in his win against Miguel Pupo.

“I feel so good,” Dora said. “I was just praying for an opportunity, I just needed a wave to really go for it. The last wave when I popped up, I saw that pocket forming and I said ‘OK, this is it, I’m going to throw it’. I went all the way to the flats and I stuck it perfectly.”

Yago Dora takes the acclaim at Raglan, New Zealand. Photograph: Ed Sloane/World Surf League

Drama also marked Cibilic’s heat. He needed a score of 7.90 to win and luckily for him a wave arrived which allowed him to get to his feet with just three seconds remaining.

Cibilic pulled off five stunning snaps before celebrating for a few seconds. The 26-year-old then realised there was a little inside corner he could play with, and added some smaller snaps to boost his hopes of the score he needed.

The wave was adjudged an 8.0 ride, giving Cibilic the win and setting up a semi-final showdown against Griffin Colapinto, who defeated Filipe Toledo.

“Oh my God so good, nothing was going my way,” Cibilic said. “I was having an absolute shocker before that, and made a fair few major errors. It was the wave I was searching for the whole heat. Once I stood up, the eyes rolled back and just went to work and got the job done.”

In the women’s semi-finals, Sawyer Lindblad defeated fellow American Alyssa Spencer by 0.03 in a thriller, while Carissa Moore (19.00) took care of Bettylou Sakura Johnson (13.70). The women’s final and the rest of the men’s competition will be held on Monday.