Two years ago, the Quiksilver Pro France was a hugely disappointing event for Sebastian Zietz. Losing in round two for the third time in four events, Zietz was closing out a season that saw him come up short of re-qualification.
Two years ago, the Quiksilver Pro France was a hugely disappointing event for Sebastian Zietz. Losing in round two for the third time in four events, Zietz was closing out a season that saw him come up short of re-qualification.
Fast forward to Saturday and Zietz put together his best performance of the year at the same stop, virtually assuring his re-qualification for 2018 in the process. Seabass reached his first final heat since he won at Margaret River early last season. This time it was a runner-up finish that boosts him up to 11th place in the rankings, where he is very safely within the top 22 with only two events left in this Championship Tour season.
Finals day began with a win for Zietz over Owen Wright in round five, which he followed up with a victory over Miguel Pupo in the quarterfinals. That set up an entertaining meeting with Kolohe Andino, in which Zietz prevailed 16.26 to 14.00.
He couldn’t keep the magic going for one more heat against Gabriel Medina, who ultimately became a three-time champion in this event with a 16.00 to 9.30 win over Seabass.
It’s been a good season for Zietz, but he had been in a grey area that can sometimes feel safer than it actually is. Entering the event ranked 15th, he had very little separation from the five or six surfers behind him. While the cut line felt far away, it takes just one quick exit to creep eerily close to the danger zone.
That certainly didn’t happen in France and Zietz took full advantage once he got rolling through the bracket. Making it beyond round five has been the toughest hurdle all season, so his win over Wright was a crucial one. From there, he came up just one win short of his second CT victory, but it’s a huge result that will allow him to simply go for it at the final two stops, not worrying about what anyone else is doing.
Medina’s win moves him up to third place on the season, still with an outside chance at capturing his second world title. But it’s John John Florence who re-captured the yellow jersey with his semifinal showing. Florence moves back ahead of Jordy Smith, who was upset in round three.
With a points lead and Pipeline still to come, Florence is again a huge favorite to grab back-to-back world championships. But the next stop in Portugal will fill in the blanks and tell us all we need to know before heading to the Pipe Masters.
Moore’s first win salvages season
The majority of Carissa Moore’s season has been inexplicable. She’s a three-time world champ in her prime and she was floundering in ninth place after seven completed events.
That has all changed rather quickly as Moore followed up on her runner-up result in Portugal to grab her first contest win of the year at the Roxy Pro France.
Those results have propelled her up into fourth place and have provided a completely different feel to her 2017. It’s a long shot, but Moore can actually still win the world title if she were to win the Maui Pro next month to close the year.
She needs a lot to happen along with the victory — Sally Fitzgibbons to lose in the quarterfinals or earlier, Tyler Wright to lose in the quarterfinals or earlier, Courtney Conlogue to lose in the semifinals or earlier — but to even be having that conversation feels like a victory in itself.
Moore took down current points leader Fitzgibbons to kick off finals day in their semifinal meeting on Saturday. She then topped Lakey Peterson to earn the victory — her first since this event last season — and the chair lift up the beach in La Graviere.
Sure, I feel silly for talking about Moore being in danger of re-qualifying only weeks ago, now that she’s in a world title scenario. But she changed her fortunes just that quickly with some incredible focus and determination during this European leg. If she can continue it in Maui, where she’s very familiar with the top spot on the podium, it will be an amazing and dramatic close out to her season.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com
