Quiksilver Pro: Mikey Wright topples world champion, Joel Parkinson on fire
IT’S the sort of feat which helped deliver his sister Tyler two world titles but this time it was the youngest member of the Wright surfing gang causing waves.
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IT’S the sort of feat which helped deliver his sister Tyler two world titles but this time it was the youngest member of the Wright surfing gang causing waves.
Mikey Wright sent world champion John John Florence packing from the Quiksilver Pro on Tuesday in a massive upset at the world tour event.
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Wright, competing in the event as a wildcard, took down the American two-time world titleholder 15.10 to 10.76.
The Americans exit marked the first time since 1991 that the defending men’s world champion had been ejected at the earliest stage of opening event of the world tour.
Wright showed he was bringing top form into the world tour opener when he won the recent Surfest event at Newcastle.
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He then topped his form up with a strong performance at the Sydney Surf Pro less than a fortnight ago.
“I’ve just been working really hard and trying to enjoy it all at the same time,” Wright said of his purple patch.
Wright is the younger brother of both reigning women’s world champion Tyler and Owen, who won the Quiksilver Pro a year ago to complete an astounding comeback from a career threatening head injury.
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Local Joel Parkinson has also survived the elimination round with his defeat of American
Patrick Gudauskas.
Parkinson is a two-time winner of the event which he last won back in 2009.
“That long, maybe I should try and win one again,’’ Parkinson laughed after posting the highest heat total of the morning with his 17.03.
Former world champion Gabriel Medina also surfed himself out of strife with his defeat of Italian Leonardo Fioravanti on Tuesday.
But in another upset, replacement surfer Michael January has beaten last year’s runner-up Matt Wilkinson in the elimination second round.
February, from South Africa, was bought into the event to replace the injured Kelly Slater.