CONNOR O'Leary showed why he may be a force on next year's elite men's World Tour with a third-round defeat of 2014 World Champion Gabriel Medina at the Hawaiian Pro.
Medina was in cruise mode controlling the heat until the Cronulla surfer unleashed a series of backhand hacks that scored him a heat best 9.57 and ultimately the win when he got another 8.67 as his backup score.
In the final day of action at the Hawaiian Pro, fellow Australian Wade Carmichael jumped an incredible 41 places in the qualifying series after his victory at Haliewa, with O'Leary not picking up any extra points due to his round-four loss.
A surfer's best five results are tallied at the end of the season. O'Leary has four ninth-placed finishes and a second place. He needs to replace one of the ninths with a better score to secure his spot on next year's elite tour.
With one contest remaining, O'Leary is in 11th place in the World Qualifying series on 19,300 points . He need 20,000 points to qualify for next year's World Surf League Tour.
