There’s now been plenty of movement at the top of the rankings and Mick Fanning threw himself right back into the world title mix with a win at the J-Bay Open, Saturday in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Picking
There’s now been plenty of movement at the top of the rankings and Mick Fanning threw himself right back into the world title mix with a win at the J-Bay Open, Saturday in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Picking up his second win of the season, Fanning topped fellow Aussie Joel Parkinson in the final on a pumping day at Jeffreys Bay. Big scores were produced as the final 12 competitors paired down to crown a champ.
Fanning’s victory makes him the third two-time winner of this season. He, top-ranked Gabriel Medina and Tahiti’s Michel Bourez have each won two of the six World Championship Tour events in 2014. Fanning improves from eighth to third in the standings and is back in prime position to make a run at what would be his fourth world title.
Having reached the third round at J-Bay, Kilauea’s Sebastian Zietz took an Equal 13th place finish, but dropped one spot in the rankings and now sits in 19th for the year. It’s a precarious position with a number of surfers all hungry to remain in the Top 22 for re-qualification. A few more names crowded that portion of the ladder with some good showings in South Africa, no one more so than Matt Wilkinson. The Aussie had only made it past the second round once in the first five events of the year, but Wilko ran himself all the way into the semifinals at J-Bay, knocking off Kelly Slater and Taj Burrow in the process. He vaulted from 33rd to 21st in the rankings thanks to the 6,500 points that come with an Equal Third finish.
Oahu’s Freddy Patacchia Jr. also improved a few spots, moving past Seabass from 19th to 16th. Patacchia took an Equal Ninth at J-Bay, reaching the fifth round but falling to Fanning.
Though his current standing is on the edge, Seabass does have a leg up on the competition. Zietz still has one throwaway score in his back pocket. Total points for the season will be calculated by the best nine finishes of the 11 WCT events. The worst a surfer can earn is an Equal 25th for a second-round exit, for which they receive just 500 points, so reaching the third round (1,750 points) consistently is vitally important.
Everyone in the current rankings from 16 through 23 has already picked up at least two 500-point outings – except for Seabass. Since a second-round exit at the season-opening Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, Zietz has four third-round eliminations and one quarterfinal appearance at the Billabong Rio Pro. That gives him slightly more wiggle room than anyone else because he still has one throwaway score to work with. Another second-round exit wouldn’t be helpful, but it wouldn’t necessarily count at the end of the year. Everyone else around him either already has a 500-point event that will be counted, or their next such result will.
It’s not to say that Zietz should be comfortable because he can’t fall below those competitors. He can. But he has more of an opportunity to improve upon his current total than the rest of the group fighting to stay above that 22nd-place cutoff.
Those aiming for a world title and not just re-qualification are still staring up at Medina, who remains in first place despite being knocked out in the quarterfinals by Owen Wright. It was a great week for Wright, who moved up into 11th place for the season with a semifinal showing and looked like his old self after his 2013 season was washed out due to a back injury.
Parkinson jumped from fifth to second place, just ahead of Fanning in third and Burrow in fourth. Bourez drops from second to fifth after his third-round elimination, which was the same fate as Slater, who also slides three spots from third to sixth. Adriano de Souza, Nat Young, Kolohe Andino and Josh Kerr round out the top 10 with five events remaining.
Next up on the men’s world tour is one of the year’s best waves, the Billabong Pro Teahupoo, which gets underway Aug. 15.
The women are in action before then as the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing starts next Sunday. Wailua’s Malia Manuel is currently ranked fifth on the world tour and looking to burst into that elite top four held down by Carissa Moore, Sally Fitzgibbons, Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright. Alana Blanchard, who is currently on the road with fellow Kauaian Bethany Hamilton for the Rip Curl My Bikini Tour, will also be looking to turn her season around as a big stretch approaches on both the CT and World Qualifying Series.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
