Carpentier produced the goods in yesterday's opening heats at the Surf City El Salvador International Surfing Association (ISA) World SUP and Paddleboard Championship.

He was back out on the water for round two this morning when he followed up on a 15.9 score by securing 8.73 and 8.00 executions for a top-scoring 16.73 in round two.

The Frenchman looks like the one to beat on Sunday (December 1) and he won his third round contest with 14.94 points.

Salazar has been equally consistent and was the top-scorer in the third round, winning his heat with 15.83 points.

Airton Cozzolini from Italy impressed with an 8.67, which was backed up by a 4.33 score to win advance to round four with a 13 point total.

American Daniel Hughes had been tipped to reach the final but will have to use the repechage draw to make it there after placing third in his heat behind Peru's Tamil Martino and Puerto Rican Max Torres.

Second behind Cozzolini was Japan's Riki Horikoshi, who banked 5.43 and 5.00 waves to retain his place in the main draw.

After his second round showing, Carpentier said: "It feels good to get some good scores on the board.

"The waves were fun this morning.

"I did some free surf before and it was too high tide and it wasn't lining up really well but it dropped back and that was nice."

A victory for Carpentier on Sunday should be enough to secure France the overall team title, with 1,000 points on offer to the gold medallist.

He added: "Our racers did so well for the team earlier this week and I just have to get as far as I can in the draw to make some more points.

"To get the overall win would be so cool.

"We never did it before so that would be amazing."

Defending champion Shakira Westdorp made it look easy at El Sunzal as she breezed into round three of the women's event.

Westdorp contested the first of today's women's heats alongside Justine Dupont from France and the duo caught some of the better swell to lock down some early waves.

Australian Westdorp top-scored in round two with an 11.7 score coming off 6.00 and 5.7 point waves, as Dupont tallied 10.44 from her best two waves.

One of the main threats to Westdorp's 2018 defence on Sunday (December 1) is Spain's Iballa Moreno and she booked her spot in round three by winning the final heat.

Candice Appleby was edged out of the main draw in round two as Vania Torres scored a late wave to climb into second place in their heat.

It was Japan's Yuka Horikoshi, sister of men's star Riki,  who dominated their heat though, securing 4.70 and 4.07 waves to advance to round three.

Appleby has struggled with injury heading into the Surf City Championships and was forced into the repechage system, where she was joined by compatriot Lara Claydon.

The standup surf contests continue tomorrow, with the medal finals to be raced on Sunday.