Mick Fanning wins fourth Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
BELLS BEACH, Victoria/Australia (Thursday, April 9, 2015) - Mick Fanning has won the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach after battling 2013 Bells Beach winner Adriano de Souza for the right to ring the Bell. Finals Day at the 54th anniversary of the event saw conditions clean up for the 35-minute bout while the two Bells champions delivered the closest Final in Championship Tour history.
Victory for Fanning today means that he is tied with Kelly Slater and Mark Richards with four Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach wins each, the most in the event’s history. Fanning first won in 2001 as a wildcard and then again in 2012 and 2014. The three-time World Champion also ties with Andy Irons who both have 20 CT event wins.
Watch Mick's Finals Day performance here.
“I’d never put myself in a category with MR (Mark Richards), Kelly Slater and Andy Irons,” said Fanning. “Those guys are my heroes. MR is a god, Kelly is a king and Andy is forever, it’s awesome.”
The first ever tiebreak Final puts Fanning on a path to his fourth World Title and he will take the gold leader jersey going into the third event on the Samsung Galaxy World Surf League Championship Tour in Margaret River. Today’s match-up was the pair’s tenth in CT history, including three at Bells Beach, and Fanning has taken seven wins while De Souza has three.
“Bells is a special place for me and it’s the first event I ever came to as a kid. The support and the crowds here are always amazing,” said Fanning. “Every time I paddle out I just want to do my best, throw myself into it and not have any regrets. You have to take it heat by heat because you never know what’s going to happen next. Every year on this Tour we all give it our all and try to put on a good show.”
“Today is the first time a CT Final has ever been tied, which is radical. As elating as the win is for me I know it’s heartbreaking for Adriano,” continued Fanning. “He’s such a top bloke and he throws his heart into everything and he trains so hard. He’s the elder statesman for the Brazilian storm and he does an impeccable job at leading them.”
De Souza was first take a wave in the Final for a small score, backing it up with 20 minutes remaining to put the pressure on and leave Fanning scoreless. The Australian went down on his first ride and De Souza quickly capitalized on the mistake by unleashing big turns for a 7.50 and a 13.83 heat total. Fanning came back with an impressive layback hack, clean rail work and a series of critical turns for an excellent 8.17, putting him back in contention. Another wave with ten minutes remaining saw Fanning claim the lead with a 7.10.
De Souza, the only Brazilian male to ring the bell, continued to demonstrate smooth, seamless surfing, searching for a 7.78 to take back the top spot. He was awarded 7.77 leaving the pair tied with 15.27 each. In a tiebreak situation the highest single-wave score wins the heat, which was Fanning’s 8.17. With less than two minutes remaining De Souza couldn’t find the score he needed and leaves Bells Beach with a second-place finish, 8,000 points and moves up to third place on the WSL rankings.
“It’s a dream come true to make a Final here at Bells,” said De Souza. “This is such an amazing place for me and it was so special to put my name on this trophy in 2013. Every time I come here it’s a special experience.”
“Mick really deserved to be number no. 1,” continued De Souza. “Thanks so much to everyone back home and everyone who came down to the beach to support us. Thanks to Rip Curl and WSL for putting on another big event and see you next year.”
After a runner-up finish at Bells Beach in 2013, Nat Young fell one heat short of equalling his best Bells result after being defeated by eventual winner Fanning in Semifinal number two. Young moves on to Margaret River in equal sixth place on the rankings where he will be looking for another solid result.
“Mick (Fanning) is probably my favorite athlete in the world so it’s always good to compete against him,” Young said. “Last year I was in a bit of a slump and overthinking things and didn’t do so great. So now it feels good to build some momentum heading into Margaret River.”
In the Quarterfinals reigning WSL Champion Gabriel Medina was defeated by runner-up De Souza. The win for De Souza sees him remain undefeated against Medina on the CT with six wins. Medina will move into the next event as world no. 9.
“That was a tough heat, there weren’t that many waves and it’s always hard to surf against Adriano (de Souza),” said Medina. “I wish I could have had some better waves but I’m feeling good. Margarets is such a good wave and I think it’s better than here so I’m looking for a good result over there. There’s only been two events so far and today is a good result for me. I hope that continues and I can fight for the title at the end of the year.”
Filipe Toledo now shares the rating’s lead with Fanning after he was also eliminated in the Quarterfinals by Young. The result matches Toledo’s best here at Bells Beach, having previously earned a fifth-place finish in 2013.
“It was a really tough one against Nat (Young) and he’s been surfing really good,” said Toledo. “I’m still happy and this is a really good result and a keeper for me for the rest of the year. I had a couple of mistakes out there with priority and I should have tried some maneuvers. I’m happy though and looking for another good result at Margarets. I’m stoked and thank you to everyone who’s been supporting me.”
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Final Results:
- 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) - 15.27 (Fanning wins with the heat’s highest single-wave score, 8.17)
- 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) - 15.27
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Semifinal Results:
- SF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.84 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 9.87
- SF 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.70 def. Nat Young (USA) 14.23
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Quarterfinal Results:
- QF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.60 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 8.33
- QF 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.00 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 7.93
- QF 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.76 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.60
- QF 4: Nat Young (USA) 15.10 def. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 13.86
Comments
Mick seems like a top bloke, good on him.
Medina is just a farking crybaby
Mick is such a good ambassador for Australia and such a worthy champion and Adriano is Brazils version,both deserving of the final.Well done and hope the waves are better for the next event.
Mick is such an ambassador for good sportsmanship and surfing and credit to Adriano for taking it to him. * Medina - get onboard with some media comms training to cover up for the immature f*ckwit that you truly are.
Great call Bell. Sadly I cant see Medina's general attitude improving as he grows up. He seems unable to grasp the bigger picture on many things which will continue to make him look like the f#ckwit he is.....
local news said something about it was 'great for mick to win despite some personal problems of late'??………..how weird is that, that the news would say something like that. Whatever it is I doubt its common knowledge??
PS - Go Mick what a champ!
Mick may be a top bloke but it didn't stop him getting towed @ small crowded Kirra recently.
Loss of brownie points
Great to see Mick win, though it could have gone either way. The "tiebreak" was a bit contrived - sort of took the edge of it a bit. I don't have a problem with highest score tiebreak situation in heats but in final, give 'em another 10-15mins and get a clear winner.
yes it shouldve gone to overtime
Mick Fanning. Legend.
That is all.
Well done Mick. Good game.
Worst Bells comp (conditions) since I can remember. Not a good start to the WSL re-brand in terms of the first 2 x comps.
On another note...
What do you think was the reason for running the ladies the following day? The waves looked much better in the final than they did for the 1st heat of the day.
I assume it is because of the Nth and Sth American TV audience? (I think that most would be in bed if the mens and ladies final were held at 4pm Vicco time...?)
Poor Sal - would love her to win a title but she just doesn't look in the same league as Carissa, Stef and Tyler. Carissa and Tyler have those big hacks down pat and Stef is just so smooth....while Sal's style seems to have improved over last year she just doesn't look to have enough power to be a threat. Shame cause she seems like a top chick.
Agreed. Last year was her shot and that has gone. Maybe she can re-invent herself somehow? The judges seem to over-score her plenty but, against the top 3 (and even lima now), she looks a gear or 2 below.
Yep Lima appears to have a better air game than Sal and I think you're right about last year being her only shot. She's got at least 4 people ahead of her now and is probably gonna end up being the Taj equivalent of the women. Like Taj she just looks too light or something. Will probably do OK in places like Fiji where she doesn't need to do much other than set a line and hold on.
Stef's 9.5 in the semi against Courtney looked a little overscored - 4 average turns and she got caught up on 2 of them. 7.5 at best me thinks.
Lima hit some amazing turns and moves in the last 2 x contests. Sal was over-scored in her heat against Lima. Not saying she didn't get the win, the gap was way too much though.
On the subject of scoring, are we all losing confidence with this current system? It seems about right for the men (give or take here and there) but, the judging in the women's surfing looks appallingly irregular. Some of the ladies are difficult to see doing anything more than a couple of cut backs and maybe a lip hit/glide at the end section. They then paddle back out with some amazing scores like 7.5-8's.
Surfers like tyler and rissa are fins out and full rail constantly. One of those turns should be worth more than 5 fat cutties to the beach with a lip flip at the end. IMHO of course... and humble it is...
Having said In all of the above, credit to any man or woman who is making a go of it and getting paid to travel the world and compete in these events. They have all earned it I'm sure.
It's just that i feel the judges are not seeing the same thing that I am.
I think Sally would do better if she started riding pu boards again,i think the firewires shes riding are sitting too high in the water and she dosent seem to be able to generate any grunt or speed.As for a lot of over scoring i was thinking the same as ratrace in the above.