The World Championship Tour is beginning its fresh season with some upsets down under as the Women’s WCT has reached the semifinals at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. A lay day was called Friday, but just four
The World Championship Tour is beginning its fresh season with some upsets down under as the Women’s WCT has reached the semifinals at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
A lay day was called Friday, but just four surfers await a chance to start off 2014 at the top of the rankings and get their hands on the $60,000 for first place. Just four surfers on the WCT made more than $60,000 in prize money all of last season, so the huge sum is a major haul at this kickoff event.
Two of the remaining competitors pulled off big upsets in the quarterfinals to remain in contention. In a relatively slow heat, South Africa’s Bianca Biutendag carved up a right-handed wave that seemed to just keep pumping beyond expectation. Last year’s WCT Rookie of the Year, Biutendag remained patient on the wave and continued to hit the lip with her calm power. The 8.00 she got gave her a solid lead and she followed it up with a shorter but equally strong wave just a few minutes later when Wright passed with priority and gave the ride to Biutendag. It turned out to be a mistake and Biutendag took full advantage, adding a 6.93 for a solid lead.
Wright, last year’s Roxy Pro champion and world title runner-up, was unable to find substantial waves with priority and ended up in a combination situation, eventually bowing out with just a 7.67 total. Wright was a semifinal machine last season and was expected to continue dominating in her home nation, but it won’t be the fast start she had in 2013.
After that third heat upset, the final quarterfinal featured a blossoming rivalry with American Lakey Peterson and Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons. Fitzgibbons is a two-time world title runner-up and finished 2013 ranked third in the standings. Peterson has finished in seventh the past two years, but will be off to a stronger start in 2014 after outmaneuvering the Aussie.
Fitzgibbons grabbed a lead by finding a big wave with plenty of speed. She sped down the bottom to get in front of the peak and came up with a big turn to set up a great ride with additional carves on the glassy face.
It wound up as a 6.67 score and pushed her in front of Peterson, but the precarious 12.84 to 12.54 lead left plenty of time for Peterson to try to find a 5.17 or better.
With just three minutes left, Peterson corrected a previous mistake with a beautiful wave, snapping high and clean off the top with a number of great turns and sold her efforts to the judges for an 8.23 score. That forced Fitzgibbons to find a 9.23 with just 60 seconds remaining, but an opportunity never materialized and Peterson moved on to face Biutendag in the upcoming semifinal.
The first two quarterfinals went according to seed, which was unfortunate for Kauai’s Malia Manuel. On the heels of a first and a third place at two World Qualifying Series 6-Star events last month, Manuel continued her form and made it to the quarters at the Roxy Pro, starting the year off with an Equal 5th finish. Manuel ran up against defending world champion Carissa Moore in the quarterfinals, a heat that didn’t offer much to each competitor. Needing a 6.00 with about five minutes left, Manuel held priority for quite a while, but took a wave at the 90-second mark that wasn’t going to provide the necessary maneuvering. She couldn’t get the score and Moore moved on with a 10.33 to 7.00 win.
Manuel had earlier eliminated fellow Hawaiian Coco Ho in the second round, advanced alongside Moore in the third round as Pauline Ado fell out of the event and then knocked off Paige Hareb to reach the quarters.
Moore will now take on Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore in the semifinals, who took out California’s Courtney Conlogue in the first quarterfinal heat.
Alana Blanchard struggled a bit at the Roxy Pro, finishing third in the opening round and then falling to Peterson in the head-to-head second round. Blanchard put up a pair of solid early scores, but Peterson’s 7.00 moved her in front and Blanchard was unable to squeeze into a tight barrel that would have nudged her back into the lead. Peterson finished the heat with a 13.43 to 11.04 win.
With either Peterson or Biutendag headed to the final, it’s going to be a great start for one of those less heralded surfers as a few of the usual suspects will be playing catch-up as the season progresses.
