Newcastle Cup: Aussie surf rookie Morgan Cibilic 3rd, Italo Ferreira wins
Aussie surf rookie Morgan Cibilic has produced his best result at a world tour event but has revealed he wants to achieve so much more in 2021.
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On Tuesday, when Morgan Cibilic smashed his foot, few outside surfing circles knew his name.
On Saturday, after finishing third at the Newcastle Cup with a fracture in his toe and painful bone bruising in his foot, he’s now known as one of the hottest - and toughest - talents in world surfing.
Cibilic is now ranked No. 7 in the world after his third place at the event where he was stopped in his tracks by former Brazilians world champion Gabriel Medina in Saturday’s semi-final.
Medina was then beaten in the final by compatriot Italo Ferreira in the event decider at Merewether.
Ferreira secured the world No. 1 ranking with his 14.94 two-wave total. Medina finished the finale with a 13.27 pointscore.
Despite just falling short of his first ever world tour final, Cibilic was a happy man.
“It’s all been a bit of a rollercoaster but fun,’’ said the young gun who beat fellow Newcastle surfer Ryan Callinan in the quarters to set up his semi with Medina.
“I have have lost to him (Medina) twice now but you can't be too unhappy when you get beaten by a two time world champion.
“It doesn’t get much better than surfing against someone like him at your home.’’
MORGAN CIBILIC’S GOAL FOR WSL RIP CURL PRO NARRABEEN CLASSIC
With the Narrabeen Classic next on the agenda for the world’s best surfer, Cibilic is hoping to transform his good form into more good results.
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“The goal is to get rookie of the year,’’ he said.
“This is a good start. Definitely a huge confidence booster knowing I can be up with there with the best guys.’’
BEST MATES SURF IN QUARTER-FINALS OF NEWCASTE PRO
They have known each other their whole lives, surfed side-by-side thousands of times but never have the stakes been so high for Ryan Callinan and Morgan Cibilic.
In an awful clash at the World Surf League event at Merewether the last two Aussies in the men’s competition have been drawn against each other in the quarter-finals.
The good mates have been the standout performers at the event – the first of four back-to-back championship tour surfing tournaments in Australia.
The Merewether locals produced big wins to book their spots in the quarter-finals expected to be fought out this weekend.
On a day Australian Olympic team member Julian Wilson was knocked out by Brazilian Adriano DeSouza, Callinan defeated fellow Aussie and Tokyo-bound Owen Wright to secure his quarters spot while Cibilic beat Central Coast surfer Wade Carmichael in another all-Aussie affair.
The results mean only one Aussie – a best – is in with a chance of winning the men’s event at Newcastle.
In the other quarters Brazilians Gabriel Medina and de Souza will battle in one,
Italo Ferreira and Deivid Silva in another while American Conner Coffin will compete against Brazilian Filipe Toledo
MICK FANNING TO SURF AT NARRABEEN CLASSIC
In other news triple world champion Mick Fanning is making a surprise return to the world championship tour as the event wildcard for the Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic.
It will be shark survivor Fanning’s first competition surf since retiring at Bells Beach back in 2018.
“I’m just going to go and give it my all and maybe upset someone but the guys are so good right now, I’m not holding my breath,” said fanning on the Newcastle Cup broadcast.
The return will mark 20 years since Fanning won the first tournament of his career at the 2001 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.
The Narrabeen Classic is set to run from April 16 to 26.
“I’d been tossing up doing another event … last year I was looking at doing J Bay, then the pandemic hit and then this year it would have been 20 years at Bells and it got cancelled,” Fanning, 39 and a new father, said.
“It’s like ‘it’s now or never, I’m not getting any younger’ so why not.”
AUSSIE ROOKIE MORGAN CIBILIC DOWNS WORLD NO. 1 JOHN JOHN FLORENCE
Morgan Cibilic has been hobbling round the Newcastle Cup site for days, worried he might not be able to surf after fracturing his toe and suffering severe bone bruising in his foot.
He need not have worried about being out of the water for four days – although he could have done with some practice signing autographs on Thursday.
“I’m terrible. I’ve never signed an autograph before,’’ said the Newcastle local Cibilic after his sensational victory over the world No. 1 Florence despite a badly injured and strapped up foot.
Mobbed by the crowd, the world tour rookie spent significant time signing autographs for a legion of new fans impressed by his giant-killing skills.
“That was pretty embarrassing because I’ve never done it before,’’ he said.
Cibilic, surfing at his home break at Merewether Beach, produced a score of 17.13 with 8.10 and 9.03 rides to knock Florence out of the World Surf League event.
Florence produced a 13.16 (7.83 and 5.33) but it wasn’t good enough against the rampaging rookie who said he had “nothing to lose” going into the heat against one of the world’s best surfers.
“I didn’t even think I would be able to surf a couple of days ago,’’ said the Newcastle youngster whose board hit his foot in a practice surf.
“It was hurting a fair bit, badly bruised and sore but it then seemed to just get a bit better the last 24 hours and I started to walk around.
“But today was my first surf in four days after I did a floater and my board exploded into my foot.’’
Also advancing on Thursday was Central Coast surfer Wade Carmichael and another Merewether local Ryan Callinan.
The Newcastle Cup has thrown up a number of upsets including both Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons being punted from the women’s competition before the quarter-finals.
The Newcastle event is replacing the traditional comp at Bells Beach with the next leg of the WSL series to be contested at Narrabeen later this month.
Having these events at home is a massive advantage for Australian surfers with Cibilic making the most of the opportunity on Thursday.
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