PRAIA DE GUINCHO, Cascais - Portugal (Sunday, October 4, 2015) - Kolohe Andino (USA), 21, has won the Allianz Billabong Pro Cascais over Caio Ibelli (BRA), 21, in four-to-five foot surf at the backup venue of Praia do Guincho.

Andino came firing right out of the gates in the final with a solid display of power surfing on his backhand for a 7.67 and the heat lead in the first minutes of the 35-minute bout. A quick exchange on successive righthanders gave both surfers limited opportunities, but Andino with an average score increased his lead over the Brazilian.

Ibelli launched his campaign 15 minutes in, with a similar lefthander to Andino’s opening ride to collect a 7.10 and get right back in the mix for first place. Both surfers continued to surf the clean lefthanders back-to-back, without changing the situation as they were only able to post medium scores.

On the five-minute mark, Andino found a bigger, cleaner set wave and performed two beautiful turns including a huge vertical blast against the closing section for an impressive 8.90 and eventually the win.

Ranked No.4 on the Qualification Series before this event, Andino takes another firm step towards requalification for the 2016 Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour with excellent results all-year culminating with his win today.

“The tide dropped a lot and it was really hard to find the right waves, but I was patient and got that 8 so I’m stoked,” Andino stated. “My arm was kind of cramped up when I was duckdiving, I’m so exhausted the paddleouts were ridiculous. Now I’m on tour pretty much guaranteed so hopefully I can surf the two events coming up freely.”

A former World Junior Champion, Ibelli strikes again this season with the runner-up result today in Cascais, and climbs up further on the QS ranks to eye a maiden qualification for the Elite Top34 in 2016. With a ton of confidence from this result, the young Brazilian will head to France to take part in next week’s Quiksilver Pro France before going home to attack the following QS10,000 of Sao Paulo.

“I’m really happy, 8,000 points is a lot and I’m stoked to make my first final in a QS10,000,” Ibelli said. “I wish I could have found better waves in that final but that’s how it goes. My watch stopped right before the final started so I was a little lost out there but I made the best of it. I’ll be waiting for an official confirmation from the WSL but making the CT is my biggest dream and when I do receive confirmation I’ll probably cry a little, this is everything I’ve ever wanted.”

In the opening semifinal, talented Californian Patrick Gudauskas (USA), 29, battled hard with Andino and posted an excellent 9.07 for three backside hacks and a temporary lead. An exciting surfer, having demonstrated his aerial prowess earlier this week with a rodeo flip, Gudauskas looked on point but couldn’t unfortunately match Andino’s flair on the air sections and placed equal third. Coming in as No.63 on the QS rankings before Cascais, Gudauskas builds momentum and will look to bring his A-game again in the following major events of Brazil and Hawaii.

“I was stoked, it’s the heat you hope for cause it brings the best out of everyone and with the challenging conditions it was sick to see the both of us get a couple of opportunities,” Gudauskas said. “Brother (Andino) has pretty much been the most in form surfer of this whole event so I looked at that heat as a final, you know if I could get over him I could have gone on to win. Congrats to him he’s been surfing sick. I haven’t made a lot of heats this year so it feels good and I hope it sparks the rest of my season.”

In a slow second semifinal, current World No.12 Wigolly Dantas (BRA), 25, the last remaining goofyfooter in the event, couldn’t find his rhythm and kept surfing the lefthanders while his opponent Ibelli took on the air section on the rights. Eventually, Dantas’ polished forehand carves and closeout sections bashes did not suffice and the young Brazilian placed equal third.

“It’s the second time I get a third here so I’m super happy,” Dantas said. “I didn’t have the right board, I really needed something bigger, but it’s still fun it’s a great result and I want to keep the ball rolling into France, I hope it’s big and we get barreled. I come here to Portugal a lot with my girlfriend being from here, so this is kind of a second home and a very special place for me. I’ll keep coming back to try to win this event for sure !”

Following the completion of the Allianz Billabong Pro Cascais today, Andino takes a firm grip on the Portuguese Waves Series - Cascais Trophy’s rankings before the final showdown at the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal. Miguel Pupo (BRA), Wiggolly Dantas and Sebastian Zietz (HAW) will have an opportunity to overtake Andino with a big result in Peniche.

ALLIANZ BILLABONG PRO CASCAIS FINAL RESULTS:

• 1 - Kolohe Andino (USA) 16.57
• 2 - Caio Ibelli (BRA) 11.97

ALLIANZ BILLABONG PRO CASCAIS SEMIFINAL RESULTS:

• SF 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 18.30 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 16.74
• SF 2: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 17.40 def. Wigolly Dantas (BRA) 12.60

ALLIANZ BILLABONG PRO CASCAIS QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:

• QF 1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.67 def. Vasco Ribeiro (PRT) 7.27
• QF 2: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.00 def. Soli Bailey (AUS) 11.33
• QF 3: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 14.93 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 12.87
• QF 4: Wigolly Dantas (BRA) 13.17 def. Evan Geiselman (USA) 7.86