Round 5:
The Volcom Fiji Pro returned to Cloudbreak (where it would stay and finish out the contest) on Day 5 to kick off Round 5. The heats of Round 5 went as so: Heat 1: Damien Hobgood/Mick Fanning; Heat 2: Taj Burrow/Joel Parkinson; Heat 3: Owen Wright/Julian Wilson; Heat 4: CJ Hobgood/Heitor Alves. My picks for this round were Damien, Taj, Julian and CJ. I went 3 for 4.
The day opened up with Damo and Mick in 6-8 foot Cloudbreak perfection. It was a relatively low scoring heat given the quality of the waves that were out there. Damo opened up with a 3.67 and earned a 4.87 later in the heat. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to overcome Mick who scored a 4.5 and followed that wave up with a 5.67. Mick moved on to the quarter finals where he would meet John John who has absolutely torn apart everyone he had been matched up against.
Heat 2 was Taj and Parko. Parko, at the time, was ASP number 1. With a win here, he could pull away in the rankings and making it a very strong possibility to win the World Title this year. Taj on the other hand has been surfing extremely strong all event. His back side surfing is some of the best on tour and he was not going to let Parko move on without a fight. I had a feeling that if anyone was going to stop Parko, it was going to be Taj in this heat. Both Taj and Parko surfed extremely well all heat, but Taj really put the pressure on Parko after he opened up the heat with an 8.5. Parko answered back with a 7.0 and soon after, a 6.0. It was now Taj who was feeling the pressure and needing a big score. A nice runner came to him and he was able to get the score he needed, a 7.53, moving Taj into the quarterfinals and ending Parko's run in the Volcom Fiji Pro. Taj would then face Gabriel Medina.
Next up was two young guns who have been surfing better than ever all event, especially Julian Wilson. Wilson took on goofy-footer Owen Wilson in Heat 3. I have been saying all event that Julian needed a strong result here to give him the momentum that he has been lacking all year. Julian pretty much ended the heat early on earning two high 7's (a 7.0 and 7.83). Owen was looking for scores to beat Wilson, but he could not get it going. He scored a 5.6 and 6.4 which also ended his chances at winning. Wilson advanced to the quarters where he would face Kelly Slater.
The last heat of Round 5 was CJ Hobgood and Brazilian Heitor Alves. CJ blew Heitor out of the water in this heat. Heitor could not find the waves he needed and CJ threw down two excellent scores, an 7.5 early on and an 8.07 towards the end of the heat. CJ advanced where he would take on Adriano de Souza in the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals:
Competition was called off after the first two quarterfinal heats due to sketchy winds. But the two heats that did run were shockers in my eyes.
Heat 1 was John John and Mick. Florence has been scoring massive heat totals all event and has been surfing like an expert out here at Cloudbreak. I was expecting him to do the same in his heat against Mick, but it did not happen. Mick surfed arguably his best all event in this heat. Mick took it to him early on and lured John John into bad waves. It was very smart competition surfing and it showed the veteran side of Fanning and the rookie side of John John. Mick scored a 7.93 and 8.67 which was more than enough to overcome John John, who only scored a 4.33 and 4.77, one of the lowest heat totals for him all year.
Heat 2 was extremely close; I saw Taj winning this due to his experience here, but Medina proved not only me, but many fans of the surf world wrong. Both started the heat with two 7's (Taj a 7.03 and Medina a 7.00). Each surfers next wave was an average score. Medina backed his score up with a 6.6 making a win by Taj a strong possibility. Unfortunately, Taj could not find a wave after that to beat Medina. Medina moved on to face Mick Fanning in the semifinal heat 1.
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Day 6:
On the final day of competition, we saw the last two quarterfinal heats, the semi's and the final. Every heat was exciting and massive scores were everywhere.
The say started off with Julian Wilson, who had beat out favorite Owen Wilson in Round 5, and Kelly Slater. It's sad to say, but this was no match for Kelly. Kelly opened up the heat with an 8.67; Julian only caught 3 waves all heat, a 6.93 backed up by a .93. No one really saw this surfing by Julian coming, he has been surfing extremely well all contest, but just could manage to find himself on this day. He managed to place equal 5th in the event, a much needed result and a confidence builder going into Tahiti. Kelly solidified his win of the heat by posting an almost perfect, 9.9 after receiving 10's from 3 of the 5 judges.
The last heat of the quarters was CJ and Adriano. I felt that CJ could not only win this heat, but win the event if he went on to beat Adriano. de Souza started the heat with an 8.83 and soon managed to score a 6.93, putting pressure on CJ who had only had a 6.17. In need of a massive score to advance to the semi's, CJ found a gem, and boy was this the wave he needed. He scored a 9.97 to move on to the semi's where he would face Kelly Slater to go to the finals.
Semi-Final's:
Heat 1 of the semi's was Mick Fanning and Gabriel Medina. Goofy versus regular (same as the next heat of CJ and Kelly). In a shocking result, Mick lost to Medina; Mick only managed to score a 1.67 and 4.90. Medina once again beat another veteran to move on in the event. At this point, some believed that this could be his event to win.
Next up was Kelly and CJ, two legends and expert surfers at Cloudbreak. Kelly did what Kelly does. Slater comboed CJ after scoring an almost perfect heat with a 10 and 9.5. It was another heat that proved why Kelly is the best surfer in the world. It seems that no one can eliminate him from an event anymore.
Finals:
It would be Kelly and Medina in the finals. At this point, Kelly has yet to beat Medina in a WCT heat. This final was over before it even started. Kelly only caught two waves in the final. It was enough to beat out Gabriel Medina after Kelly was awarded an 8.33 on his opening wave and a 9.83 on his next wave. The level at which Kelly was surfing was unbelievable. Many surfers, including Taj Burrow, said this was the best contest that Kelly has ever surfed. It seems that he has yet to reach his peak. At 40 years old, he is doing turns that the rest of the WCT surfers only wish they could do. He is getting deeper than anyone in the barrel. Can he do it again? Can he win his 12TH World Title this year?
On a side note, this event made me reevaluate my views towards Gabriel Medina. To be honest, I have not been a fan of him since he came on tour. I thought that he was a one sided surfer who could only excel in punchy beach-breaks and do airs. But after the Volcom Fiji Pro, he has proved to the world, and me, that he has a much deeper repertoire than that. Even Kelly is saying that this kid is the future. Kelly seems to be having rivalries with everyone these days, Josh Kerr, Owen Wilson and you can now add Gabriel Medina to that list. Medina has surfed like a maniac all event. So props to him and thank you for proving me wrong. I am interested to see how he will do in Tahiti at Teahupoo.
This contest greatly rearranged the World Rankings. Mick Fanning moved from second to first, Kelly jumped from 7th to 2nd and Parko is now 3rd. Mick and Kelly are only separated by about 1000 points, which is virtually nothing. Julian Wilson and Owen Wright are back in the top ten. Also, this result by Gabriel Medina catapulted him from 29th to 13th in the world. Volcom put on the contest of the year so far - big upsets, 10's everywhere, barrels, big turns and endless barrels. I hope to see this event back next year.
Here are the final two day recap videos:
Day 5
Day 6
Some pictures (Surfline.com)
I hope you all enjoyed my coverage of the Volcom Fiji Pro event. Be on the lookout for my preview of the Billabong Pro Tahiti which will come out soon. Also keep an eye out for some really good environmental posts that I am in the process of putting together right now. Don't forget to leave comments, "like" the Facebook page (top left of the site), take the Worn Trails survey (top right of the page) and finally, SUBSCRIBE TO THE SITE!!!
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