Quarterfinalists confirmed at Rip Curl Pro, Slater, Parkinson, and Lima eliminated from the event
BELLS BEACH, Victoria/Australia (Tuesday, April 7, 2015) - A day of shock upsets at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, stop no. 2 of the Samsung Galaxy World Surf League Championship Tour, as the men's and women's Quarterfinalists were decided in challenging conditions. Three former event winners were eliminated from the competition today with Kelly Slater going down to Gabriel Medina , Joel Parkinson was defeated by Josh Kerr and Silvana Lima fell at the hands of Lakey Peterson.
Peterson opened strong against Lima with an excellent 8.33. The pair battled in the early-morning conditions but Lima, 2009 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach winner, couldn’t match the American’s early high score and is eliminated from the competition in equal 9th place. Peterson moves through to the Quarterfinals where she will face Sally Fitzgibbons.
“It’s always good start with a great score,” said Peterson. “It’s really hard to pick them out there today and to surf smoothly is really tough. Silvana is such a good surfer so I was definitely a bit worried going into that heat. I try not to worry about who I’m surfing against but I knew I needed to get a quick start and put the pressure on. Everyone wants to win here, and that's part of what makes the event so special -- it would be incredible to win it.”
Johanne Defay also earned her place in the Quarterfinals, taking out Alessa Quizon with a 14.54 two-wave heat total. The result for Defay, the lone European surfer on the women’s CT, is an improvement last year’s 9th-place finish at Bells Beach and she’ll match-up against defending event winner Carissa Moore in the next round.
“I’m definitely going to stay around and watch the surfing, it’s just so good,” said Defay. “I have a routine that I stick to when I’m competing and it seems to be working here at Bells.”
Looking dominant, Tyler Wright stormed through her Round 4 heat against Bianca Buitendag. Wright’s final score, an excellent 9.13 (out of a possible 10), sealed the deal and led her to a convincing win over her South African opponent. Wright will match-up against reigning six-time WSL Champion Stephanie Gilmore in the Quarterfinals.
“It’s so good to be here and in the home town of Rip Curl,” Wright said. “I feel like Bells really suits my surfing, sometimes I almost get too excited when the face opens up. I have so many ideas of how I want to play with this one turn and it’s just a dream to be out there. The results don’t really come into my head, I just want to win heats so I can surf out there in uncrowded Bells over and over.”
Courtney Conlogue was the final woman to take her place in the Quarterfinals after claiming victory against dangerous rookie Tatiana Weston-Webb. The Hawaiian battled throughout the 30-minute bout and, despite the highest score of the heat, couldn’t find a backup to edge the win, leaving Conlogue to move forward in the contest.
“Conditions are super challenging so you have to take those opportunities when they come through,” Conlogue said. “I just tried to have priority when those bigger sets came through. I’m looking forward to competing against Coco (Ho). She got the upperhand in our last heat so I want a rematch.”
Opening up Men’s Round 5 was one of the most anticipated heats of the year so far with 11-time world champion Kelly Slater coming up against the new guard, reigning WSL Champion, Gabriel Medina. 23 years his senior, Slater was in control for the majority of the heat with 2 mid-range scores, but with less than five minutes remaining, Medina took off on a smaller inside wave without priority and rapped three nice turns to land a heat high 7.17 and take the win. Medina’s victory today sees him take the edge over Slater with six wins to the American’s five across the pair’s 11 CT match-ups.
“That was pretty close,” Medina said. “It was a tough heat against Kelly (Slater), I knew it was going to be hard. I’m stoked to be in the quarters, it’s a tough event and I’m looking for a solid result here.”
As the wind increased and conditions began to deteriorate, three time Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach winner Joel Parkinson met fellow Coolangatta raised surfer Josh Kerr in a Heat 2 of Round 5. Parkinson’s silky rail surfing had him in the box seat for the entire heat with Kerr not finding a wave until the 20-minute mark. Kerr was able to hit the front after the final siren, take the win and will do battle with Owen Wright in Quarterfinal 2 when competition resumes.
“A good one came right before our heat started, so I just sat there waiting for one of them,” Kerr said. “Then it completely changed, the wind came up and it was really tough.”
Mick Fanning battled Jadson Andre for a Quarterfinal berth. The pair have previously matched up three times at Bells and the Australian has won all three bouts. Andre held the lead for the first half of the heat with Fanning searching the challenging lineup for a score of significance. The defending event winner found a solid 7.00 to put him back in contention and backed it up with a 5.27 for the win and a place in the Quarterfinals for the tenth consecutive year.
“It’s really tough out there and I was really anxious, I was losing my mind,” said Fanning. “I got lucky with that 7-point-ride, it opened up for me with two sections. The ocean is a tricky beast, but she’s gorgeous. I’ll now match-up with Jordy (Smith) again, we’ve had some great battles over the years and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Jeremy Flore had a lot to surf for in the last heat of Round 5 against past Bells runner-up Nat Young, battling for the remaining spot in the Quarterfinals. Showing composure above his years, Young posted two good scores to hold the tour veteran at bay and look to continue his success at the Rip Curl Pro.
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Round 5 Results (1st to QF, 2nd = 9th):
- Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.00 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 12.53
- Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.40 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.17
- Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.27 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.60
- Heat 4: Nat Young (USA) 14.66 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 5.93
Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach Round 4 Results (1st to QF, 2nd = 9th):
- Heat 1: Lakey Peterson (USA) 16.13 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 13.23
- Heat 2: Johanne Defay (FRA) 14.54 def. Alessa Quizon (HAW) 11.60
- Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) 17.63 def. Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 10.90
- Heat 4: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.44 def. Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 13.26
Comments
I reckon Kelly was underscored in the heat and Gabs overscored. Gabs only did two turns on that wave, the first was a whole lot of nothing but the other two were ok to get a 7. Low 6 at best in my opinion. Kelly blew it on that air and also that vert bottom turn in the flat part on that other wave. But, admittedly the next wave was smaller but very well surfed and radically to the end to only get a high 5. It seems the judges had rewarded length of ride up until that point in time. Based on the other waves scored I reckon it was worth low to mid 6.
I reckon Medina was very lucky to get through that heat.
cmon zen Kelly fucked it up and he admitted it. Rookie error. 3 critical turns from Gabriel. Pretty easy heat win for Medina.
Though Kelly looked amazing on the 9.5 when the waves were better.
There were no lucky surfers out there today zen. The conditions were truly appalling. It was a classic example of the problems WSL face in marketing. Even the best surfers in the world couldn't create entertainment value out of that crap.
Couldn't agree more!!! Was utter poo out there today.
I can't believe they ran it. Sitting at my desk looking out the window it is a miserable, howling southerly and the first time it has rained in Melbourne for about a year. It should be really good by Thursday or Friday why didn't they wait?
Wafer thin boards and lots of rubbish to add to some more rubbish was entertainment.
What absolute crap to say the least.
It is a shame really would love to watch these top competitors rip Snapper and Bells in primo conditions.
I agree with Zen on that one. I thought Kellys second wave was better than his first and probably deserved a 7. But maybe they marked him down for that layback but I love seeing that stuff. Thought he ripped the last one too and that could have been a 6.5 or so but that's surfing and the judging is subjective. Still don't think Gabby is surfing anything like last year though. Toledo stolen his mojo?
I think it was a good watermans test.... A real world champ should be able to rip 3 foot snapper, 5 foot clean Bells or j bay walls, commit to 8 foot chopes, milk onshore crap, dominate 2nd reef pipe.....
Now if we could ad the ultimate watermans test, a second hawaiian event held at 12 foot sunset, that'd be the bomb.....
I'm not sure how it looked in the flesh but Kelly sure beat Medina on the TV I was watching.
Don't know what the head judge is instructing, but after checking out the waves on the analyzer, I'd have to say this was some of the strangest judging I've seen. Here's an idea to improve the judging. Separate the judges: from my experience back in the day; that's definitely when the best judging happens. Subjective objectivity is easily influenced by anything that stimulates the senses: the head judge, wondering what the next guy is thinking, the crowd noise, surfers making claims, the judges' preferred surfers, commentary, etc - put the judges in their own bubbles and the likelihood of the most objective result possible ... is, well, possible. Heck, and if we grade the judges for accuracy, when compared to the overall average results and scores, then we've got a competition and men striving to succeed for, maybe, cash bonuses in their pay. Let's go a step further, make the judges ladder and results public. I remember, as an amateur judge (and as a member of the inaugural pro/am panel in Qld) back in the late '70s and early '80s, we were motivated to be the best judge, to represent state and country, blah, blah; and ego, too, but that's what you get in a comp. Maybe WSL already uses some of these concepts for judges, I wouldn't know. But there's much to be learned, sometimes, by looking back, to enable progress. Get the judges competing for prize money or divide up the judges' payments on a percentage basis commensurate with their accuracy ... is that too lateral?