Torpedoes world number one Matt Wilkinson in final!
Finals day started with Medina and ADS. Plenty of swell, still a little unsteady from overnight.
Nothing too amazing. Solid surfing, Medina took the win.
Slater completely outclassed Wiggoly. No surprise. Velvet brown pate owns somewhere around three decades Cloudbreak experience. And Wiggly hasn’t exactly been on fire this event. Would’ve been out in Round three is Coffin hadn’t made an error.
Kelly drops “That one was for Michel and Connor” post heat. A little unfair. Wigs beat Bourez on points. Interference didn’t make a difference. Still funny though.
Kelly went on to pick apart his Dantas’s heat. Fucking grand. Slater has so much knowledge to share. I drink in his every word. About surfing.
But I’d be so pissed if I were on the receiving end. Especially because he’s right.
Ace Buchan deserved his win. Took out the wildcard in a solid workhorse heat. Good waves, great surfing. Nothing stupendous.
Quarterfinal four featured new found deadball devotee facing off with unbridled brilliance. I had a sick feeling in my stomach because I knew how it was gonna end.
JJ’s first wave was a foamy bumpy drainer a sane man wouldn’t look at, much less drag ass along and finish with a fuck consequences inside reo. Middle six score because it wasn’t a glassy cover shot.
Wilko answered back with a perfect beauty. Big pretty fucker. Sits just under cover the length of the ride. Better wave choice, less demonstration of ability. Gets a 7.73. Not ridden as well as John’s, but nicer looking. Putting focus on a different aspect of ability than I really like.
JJs second is a fins out sideways slide into hands off pump your heart out. Barely sneaks under the lip as it runs away. The positioning, technique, ability to read the barrel from the inside, is beyond beyond. Making me gush. Not the judges. 4.43.
Judges miss the finer points of JJs steez. They’re all about picking the best looking wave. And that should count for something, but less than performance. Latter takes practice, first partly luck.
JJ grabbed what could’ve been the best barrel of the event but can’t quite make it out. Needed an 8.13 with three minutes left. Wilko used priority sit on JJ in the dying minutes. Passed up a few good waves.
Won it with better wave selection and more tactical smarts. Which I knew would happen.
Medina and Slater at firing Cloudbreak. Fireworks. Or not.
Medina grabbed the lead with his second wave, a double barrel high speed chandeliering nightmare. Held it the rest of the heat.
Amusing moment when Medina Huntington hopped for a mile on a grower, only to have it stand up and shut down on him.
Slater was game, but just couldn’t make it happen. Missing a bit of his fairy dust, maybe.
Took off under the lip with five and a half left, needing an 8.18 and ate a big ol’ pile of shit. Clock running out fast, he needed a heat winner, and fast.
But it’s Slater, so he could grab a ten with two seconds left. He’s done it before. Multiple times. Just needs the ocean to send something his way.
Which Medina knows well, played hard tactics to beat. Used priority to burn Slater, maybe try to draw an interference with three minutes left. While Slater got worked, Gabby kicked out immediately, snuck back outside. Regained priority.
Interestingly, post heat with Rosie, Slater says he was trying to bait Medina into the wave. Fucked up his positioning. Totally his fault. So many mind games!
Gabe spent the last minute chasing Slater around the lineup, nipping at his heels up like a yipping little mutt.
Slater found the wave he needed, five seconds after the buzzer. Sick laybacklookback barrel with steam coming out of his ears.
I don’t like the new Wilko. Conservative, professional, consistent. Like running into some guy you used to party with and he’s a local bank assistant manager with three ugly children and a stress induced hairline. And he’s totally happy, which is what makes it even worse.
Slow affair. Wilko gets a solid score early, then not much. Both guys get caught inside by a set and spend some time paddling. Buchan catches his first wave just past the midway point. Good barrel to carve/top turn combo. 7.83 puts him in the lead, but Wilkobot only needed a 2.44. Which he outdid easily on his next wave. 7.5 Holds on to it.
Wilkobot/Gabby Final. But first a break while they eat snacks. Kelly’s nibbling on some sort of fruit. Mango? Oranges? Hard to tell.
Maybe it’s just me, but yesterday was a tad better.
Finals started off with a failed barrel apiece, then a big set rolling through the lineup. Medina forced Wilko to use priority, then they get caught out of position again by a big crumbly set. Pretty boring.
Wilko eventually grabbed a nothing and did some good turns, HUGE re-entry. Low score but more than enough for the lead.
But not for long as Medina found a long and deep one to big Curran-esque alley oop to fakie back flop recovery. Which, funnily enough, I remember one of the commentators talking about yesterday.
Then Medina caught fire and ran away. 7.33 for the air wave. Grabs a very big and long and crimped number after that, comes out with a claim for an 8.27. Very out of character for the Brazilian Iceman.
Wilko in a combo with ten remaining attempted to imitate Medina’s last and couldn’t make it.
Then another big set swings wide, third time this heat, and mows them both down. Breaks Medina’s leash. Funny stuff.
In the end there’s not much Wilko can do. Media takes the win. Moves to second place on the ‘CT. Some yobbo holds on to first.
Fiji Pro Final Results:
1 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.60
2 – Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 6.34
Fiji Pro Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.67 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 12.03
SF 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.33 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.00
Fiji Pro Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 10.86 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 8.83
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 9.40
QF 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.60 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.40
QF 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.63 def. John John Florence (HAW) 10.93
WSL Jeep Leaderboard Top 5 (after Fiji Pro):
Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 32,500 pts
Gabriel Medina (BRA) 24,000 pts
John John Florence (HAW) 23,900 pts
Italo Ferreira (BRA) 20,500 pts
Adriano de Souza (BRA) 20,400 pts
