Quiky Pro, Roxy Pro under way for final day
UPDATE: Byron Bay goofy-footer Matt Wilkinson has won his first World Surf League championship event, winning the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks.
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UPDATE: Byron Bay goofy-footer Matt Wilkinson has won his first World Surf League event, winning the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks.
Wilkinson led into the final minute but Andino grabbed a buzzer-beater and the pair were forced to wait nervously as the officials adjudicated.
Andino needed a 7.38 but managed just a 6.83 to hand Wilkinson the title.
Wilkinson, one of the few goofy-footers to win the title and the first since Gabriel Medina in 2014, managed a two-wave total of 14.2 out of a possible 20, with Andino falling just short on 13.66.
The NSW Central Cost product will wear the tour leader’s yellow jersey into the next tour event at Bells Beach.
TYLER Wright has won the Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks, beating American Courtney Conlogue in the final.
Lennox Head product Wright dominated the final, posting a two-wave totals of 14.67 out of a possible 20 to underline her desire to win a maiden world championship.
Wright added the Roxy title to the championship she won at Snapper Rocks in 2013, when she finished runner-up on tour.
Always a supremely talented athlete, a more mature Wright has found the confidence and belief to turn potential into performance.
Wright left the door open for her rival in the dying minutes, using her priority and allowing Conlogue prime pick as she chased an 8.9 for the title win.
But the Californian, runner-up to Carissa Moore on tour last year, was unable to find the wave she needed, with Wright taking the title to start off the season on the perfect note.
The 21-year-old will wear the tour leader’s yellow jersey into the second event of the year at Bells Beach.
FELIPE Toldeo has been taken to John Flynn Hospital for scans after injuring himself in his semi-final loss to Matt Wilkinson.
Doctors at the competition zone have diagnosed a sprained hip, with Toldeo heading to hospital with his father to undergo an MRI.
The defending Quiksilver Pro champion is one of the leading contenders for this year’s world title and his absence would be a blow to a tour already missing Bede Durbidge and Owen Wright to longterm injuries.
BYRON Bay surfer Matt Wilkinson is through to the final of the Quiksilver Pro after knocking defending champion Felipe Toldeo out in the semi-finals.
Toledo suffered a back injury while attempting to land a fast-rotating aerial manoeuvre in the Snapper Rocks surf.
The Brazilian did not immediately recover his board and looked to be in severe pain as he moved to the back of the lineout.
He completed a 360-degree turn on his next wave and looked to be hampered on his turns but did enough to post a second strong score and led Wilkinson into the final stages of the heat.
But Wilkinson was still forced to work for his win.
He needed a 5.1-point ride to overtake Toldeo in the final stages and scored a 6.6 to advance to just the second championship tour final of his career.
While Toledo seemed to be favouring his left leg, the Brazilian told in-water photographers he is suffering a back problem.
He was helped from the water by security and his father.
Lennox Head surfer Stuart Kennedy is in the water in his semi-final now.
Lennox Head product Tyler Wright has earnt a place in the Roxy Pro final after beating world champion Carissa Moore in their semi-final clash.
Wright, who has made no secret of her desire to chase a world title this season, displayed incredible patience in her heat, catching just three waves but gaining the score she needed to beat Wright with her final ride.
“I think I sat for 15 minutes (waiting for the right wave) but the whole time, it was never a question of if, it was just when, for me.
“I knew the wave was coming, one of those waves has to come each heat, so I just waited on that and it did (come).’’
RAINBOW BAY SURF CAM
Wright is hoping to repeat her 2013 heroics at Snapper Rocks, when she won the title, beating Sally Fitzgibbons in a thrilling heat.
Wright will face American Courtney Conlogue in the final after she beat France’s Johanne Defay in their semi-final.`
EARLIER Stuart Kennedy’s giant-killing run at the Quiksilver Pro has continued after he beat John John Florence with a wave in the dying seconds of their quarter-final contest.
Underdog Kennedy went into the heat as a massive crowd favourite after his efforts earlier in the tournament.
He was behind Florence all heat and looked to be down and out before snaring a wave in the dying seconds.
Kennedy needed a 7.11 and faced a nervous wait as the judges conferred before awarding an 8.3 which pushed him into the final four.
The Lennox Head surfer knocked out former world champions Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina earlier in the contest.
He now faces Hawaiian Kolohe Andino in the semi-finals.
Florence had never previously been past Round 3 at Snapper Rocks.
But linking with Gold Coast surfer Bede Durbidge paid dividends.
BYRON Bay resident Matt Wilkinson has knocked world champion Adriano de Souza out of the Quiksilver Pro with a win in their quarter-final heat.
Wilkinson trailed in the dying stages, needing a 5.91 to beat the world champion.
But he scored a 6.33 for his buzzer-beating ride to eliminate de Souza and advance to the semi-finals where he will face defending champion Felipe Toledo.
Joel Parkinson has been knocked out of the Quiksilver Pro in the quarter-finals by defending champion Felipe Toledo.
The Brazilian coped better with the conditions at Snapper Rocks, bringing plenty of energy on the 1m-plus sets.
Parkinson needed a 6.02 in the dying stages of the heat but was unable to get the score, with Toledo keeping alive his chances of going back-to-back.
The event started at 7am in a bid to get the men’s and women’s quarter-finals surfed before a likely break for the high tide.
The Quiksilver Pro and Roxy Pro champions are likely to be crowned today.
EARLIER
FORMER world champion Joel Parkinson is in the water battling last year’s champion Filipe Toledo in the quarterfinals of the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks.
The competition was begun early this morning as organisers look to make the most of clean headhigh surf for the final day of competition.
“We are really excited because we’ve got a swell bump up this morning and a little bit more power in the ocean,” WSL commissioner Kieren Perrow said.
“We are going to go straight into the men’s Quarterfinals, followed by the Semifinals and the Finals for both the Roxy Pro and the Quiksilver Pro.
“It’ll be a big day of action,” he said.
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