Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi shoots for third straight U.S. Open of Surfing title
Kanoa Igarashi will stand on more than just a surfboard this year at the U.S. Open of Surfing.
Igarashi also stands on the precipice of history.
No one has won the men’s World Surf League Qualifying Series 10,000 event three years in a row. At only 21 years old, that’s what Igarashi will try to accomplish this year at his home break on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
The U.S. Open of Surfing, which also includes BMX biking and skateboarding competitions, begins Saturday and runs through Aug. 4. It’s that day, the final Sunday, when Igarashi hopes to exit the water once again as a champion.
He has been performing well on the Championship Tour this season. Igarashi is ranked fifth and earned a first-place finish in Bali in May.
With last year’s win, Igarashi joined fellow Surf City native Brett Simpson, who won the event in 2009 and 2010, as a back-to-back U.S. Open champion.
“I put so much into it,” Igarashi said. “Just mentally, I put a lot into it. I remember when I won the first one, I was like, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get to that point ever again. It really took a lot out of me. It was exciting at the time, but once it was over, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could find that mojo again.
“It’s one of the biggest events in the world. Setting any kind of record is great, but a U.S. Open record would be unbelievable for me. To be great, the best athletes in the world set records and they set a standard. That’s my goal, being that person, and I look forward to it.”
Sage Hill School alumna Courtney Conlogue, 26, is the defending U.S. Open women’s champion. Conlogue will be after her third title in the women’s event, which has been downgraded from a Championship Tour to a Qualifying Series event this year. She also won the U.S. Open in 2009.
Conlogue ranks No. 6 in the women’s CT standings and won the Rip Curl Pro event in Australia in April.
A couple of other local surfers are excited to compete in the main event for their respective genders. Tyler Gunter of Newport Beach, 19, has aged out of the junior competitions. He won the RVCA Pro Junior event last September at his home break of 56th Street in Newport, clinching the North American junior men’s tour title.
Gunter currently ranks 143rd in the QS.
“It could be going better, but I’ve had a couple of results and I’m looking to get another one right now at the U.S. Open,” Gunter said. “It’s really nice to be competing here. I’ve had 100 contests out here since I’ve been a little kid. I live 10 minutes away, so I get to sleep in my own bed every night. It feels nice and very comfortable.”
Meah Collins of Costa Mesa is also 19. Like Gunter, she has also aged out of the junior events. She said she is looking forward to the U.S. Open, her favorite event, which she didn’t get to compete in last year as she was unable to qualify for the women’s event.
Collins, an Edison High graduate, is ranked No. 29 in the women’s QS and owns a second-place finish at an event in Chile in May.
There’s a reason why the locals like competing at the U.S. Open. Large crowds don’t hurt.
“Competing on your home soil, you get different juices flowing,” Igarashi said. “It’s a pretty neat atmosphere here, you know? It’s a feeling that I don’t get anywhere else in the world. Huntington Beach holds a special part of my heart as a surfer, but also as a kid growing up here, watching the contest over the years.”
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