The women's division ended a few day's earlier than the mens, but even in smaller surf, the surfing was all time. Fan favorite, Sally Fitzgibbon's took home the title with a young and in-form Coco Ho in second. I liked Coco to win this event, but Sally was on the top of my list as well. Coco needed this result to secure her a spot in the top 10 and solidify her spot on tour. It looked like it was going to be her heat to win until the last few minutes when Sally posted a 7.93 and beating Coco by .07 points. A true heartbreaker as this would have been a monumental second WT win for Coco. This win moves Sally into second place in the title race, right behind rival (and friend), Steph Gilmore.
The mens was on hold for a few days after Day 1. Finally, some swell came and it provided the surfers with some very difficult conditions. The boys went all out and I can't write about all of the good surfing, the ridiculous barrels and airs that were performed. Rio went into a little bit of a frenzy after 5 of the 10 Brazilian surfers were eliminated in Round two including phenom Gabriel Medina, a heat which I said he could very well end up losing. After a controversial situation in which he opted for jet-ski assist to get back into the line up (after it was established that there would be no assist that day) he was forced to come back to the beach and paddle out. At this point it was too late and the heat was practically over. An unfortunate mistake in which he can only blame himself. The only Brazilians left were Adriano de Souza and wild card Peterson Crisanto (who eliminated Medina), Alejo Muniz and Miguel Pupo. Pupo and Crisanto were both eliminated in Round 3 leaving Adriano de Souza and Alejo to carry their country on their backs through the rest of the event. It looked promising until de Souza met Josh Kerr (another favorite of mine to win this contest) in the quarterfinals and Muniz being ousted by Mick Fanning in the quarters as well, ending the Brazilian campaign in this event. Other standouts were Josh Kerr who lost out to John John Florence in the Semi's, Julian Wilson, Parko, Mick Fanning and John John.
John John was the overall standout and posted massive heat totals throughout the entire event. He continuously found barrels and landed huge aerial maneuvers. This was his first win, of many in my opinion. With Fiji coming up, I see him fitting in quite well with those perfect reef breaks. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes back-to-back.
Even though I had John John on my Fantasy Surfer team, it was hurt with the early loses of Kolohe Andino (who I saw going far in this event), Brett Simpson and Owen Wright (my projected winner), all in Round 3.
This event was very exciting to watch and was a great tone setter for the Volcom Pro Fiji in a few weeks. I will do a post prior to the event and throughout the event with details, recaps and videos. But for now, here are videos from the finals of the Billabong Pro Rio for the mens and womens, as well as a video taken by a few of the surfers!
Video Taken By Taj and Friends on a Lay Day
Event Heat Recaps as well as Current World Rankings. Note:
1) John John posted close to a 15.00 heat total or better in every heat after Round 1
2) The world rankings are very interesting. Kelly, who had to miss this event due to injury currently sits in 8th. Parko is sitting in first and is looking very strong and can easily have big results in the next few events.
3) Mick Fanning in Second should worry Parko as he has always given Parko battles that have made or broken WT races or events.
4) Josh Kerr in 3rd should worry everyone, he is my sleeper as not many are considering him for a World Title. I considered him a contender before the beginning of the year and with three consecutive semi-final finishes, don't be surprised if he is standing at the top of the podium sometime soon. He has proven that he can be a strong, smart surfer in reef-break conditions in addition to being, arguably, the best aerialist in the world.
5) With two very difficult events coming up (Fiji and Teahupoo) I expect to see some of these names drop off of the top-ten list, some new names on it and for a few of these names to jump up (specifically Kelly, Owen, John John and Josh Kerr)
photo: Surfline.com
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