Gold Coasters Jack Freestone and Mick Fanning set up tantalising Sunset Beach clash
JACK Freestone’s perfect form has set up a showdown against fellow Gold Coaster Mick Fanning at a pumping Sunset Beach break.
Surfing
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JACK Freestone’s perfect form has set up a showdown against fellow Gold Coaster and world title hopeful Mick Fanning at a pumping Sunset Beach break.
Freestone scored a perfect 10 in his Round 3 heat of the Vans World Cup of Surfing after disappearing behind a veil of whitewater in a barrel.
Freestone disappeared from view for several seconds but shot from the tube and managed a slashing turn at the end of the ride to earn a perfect score from all five judges.
“That’s my first perfect 10 this year,’’ he said.
“Those ones are really hard to come by. I was just really lucky to be in the position where it was under Nat (Young) and Aritz (Aranburu) and they didn’t even look at it.
“I just swooped on it and it had the perfect shape on it.
“I was kind of feeling it and I was psyched to get a 10.’’
Freestone, who leads the qualifying series and is likely to seal his spot on the 2016 world tour, won the heat with a two-wave total of 17.67 to set up a showdown against Fanning, Brazil’s Jesse Mendes and Frenchman Marc Lacomare in round 4.
But Freestone will have to master not just his competitors but a heavily strapped right ankle to advance.
“I actually sprained my ankle, so a big shout out to the whole medical team here, they’ve been amazing and they’ve helped me get back on my feet and surfing here,’’ the Coolangatta local said.
Fanning is surfing at Sunset Beach ahead of the final World Surf League round at Pipeline next week where he will attempt to become just the second Aussie after Mark Richards to win four world titles.
He finished second in his Round 3 heat to set up the clash with Freestone.
Brazil’s Adriano de Souza, one of Fanning’s main rivals for the world title, was knocked out in Round 3, while another Brazilian still in the world title race, Gabriel Medina, advanced to Round 4, handling the sizeable conditions at Sunset admirably.
While Fanning and co restart their world title battle next week, Carissa Moore sealed her third world crown yesterday after beating Sally Fitzgibbons in the final of the Maui Pro, with an almost perfect 19.5 two-wave total.
Moore sealed the crown when title rival Courtney Conlogue was beaten by Coco Ho in Round 4 but didn’t take her foot from the pedal, going on to beat Fitzgibbons in the final.
“You can never feel it until the end and this is the moment,” Moore said after clinching the title, adding “Courtney’s been surfing so well”.