Pictured: Stephanie Gilmore put on a power-surfing clinic this morning. She will be facing Alana Blanchard (HAW) in the first heat of Round 4 tomorrow morning.
Credit: ASP/Scholtz
CAPBRETON, France (Tuesday, September 24, 2013) – The opening day of the Roxy Pro France was graced with spectacular performances from the World’s Best, tearing apart the 3-4Ft peaks on offer at the backup venue of Le Penon in Seignosse. A big day of surfing completed three rounds of competition to decide the event’s first four Quarterfinalists and the surfers who will battle it out in the fourth round.
Event No.7 of 8 on the 2013 ASP Women’s World Championship Tour, the Roxy Pro France will play a vital role in determining this year’s Women’s World Champion with Carissa Moore (HAW) 21, in a position to clinch her second crown in France again.
The talented Hawaiian, Moore, fresh off a win in the US Open of Surfing kept the roll going on this first day of competition in France, dominating her morning battle racking up two excellent scores including a near-perfect 9.43 out of a possible 10. She went on to repeat her performance and survived a last-minute fightback from local hero Pauline Ado (FRA) 22, to advance straight into the Quarterfinals.
“It feels really good to make it through that heat, it was actually very hard I was up against local favourite Pauline Ado and she definitely caught the best waves in that heat,” confirmed Moore. “I’m just stoked I was able to make the best of what I got. I’m thankful that Roxy and ASP decided to bring us back and bring us to Hossegor in fact, it’s such a beautiful place, the waves are good, you know I think the girls couldn’t ask for anything more!”
Current World No.2 Tyler Wright (AUS) 19, built momentum throughout the day to post a solid heat win in the third round against lethal Hawaiians Malia Manuel and Coco Ho. Wright navigated the Seignosse lineup and found some great waves to display her radical surfing repertoire, which earned her an excellent 8.50 out of 10.
“Today’s been a long day, but it’s really pretty right now, the sun’s coming down and it’s just a beautiful day in France,” Wright commented. “Carissa smashed her heat as usual and in the heats before that Sally and Steph were going at it as well, it was super entertaining to sit on the beach and watch!”
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 22, put on a dominant performance this morning but was struggling to overcome defending event champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 25, in her no-loser round 3 bout this afternoon. The hard-fighting Australian kept chasing a good wave that opened up all the way to the beach and collected the heat-winning ride in the dying moments of the 30 minute battle.
“It wasn’t the prettiest of my heats I think, I just sort of knew what I was looking for and none of the waves I was selecting were really working out,” Fitzgibbons said. “I thought, if I can’t get in a good rhythm out here, I’m just going to persevere and persevere. I’ve been surfing this bank a bunch and I knew I just needed something to open up for the first turn, and I felt pretty confident to push a bit harder and try to dial in that end section.”
Courtney Conlogue (USA) 21, was the last surfer to claim her ticket to the Quarterfinals late tonight before the sun finally set, defeating fellow Californians Lakey Peterson (USA), 18, and Sage Erickson (USA), 22, on a last-minute try. Mathematically still in contention for a maiden World Title, Conlogue will be looking to go all the way when competition recommences tomorrow.
“That heat was definitely down to the wire, I didn’t start off strong at all,” Conlogue explained. “And then the last seven minutes, I got that left and it kind of revitalized me to get in there and start the heat all over again and it ended up working out for the best! I’m very thrilled to have gone through, tomorrow will be a long day and it’ll be nice not to surf an extra heat, we’ll see how it goes.”
Event organizers and surfers will reconvene at 7:30am tomorrow to re-assess conditions for a possible final day.
The Roxy Pro France will be webcast LIVE via http://roxylive.com/roxyprobiarritz/2013
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com
UPCOMING ROXY PRO FRANCE QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS:
QF 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) vs TBD
QF 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs TBD
QF 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs TBD
QF 4: Courtney Conlogue (USA) vs TBD
UPCOMING ROXY PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs Alana Blanchard (HAW)
Heat 2: Pauline Ado (FRA) vs Sofia Mulanovich (PER)
Heat 3: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs Sage Erickson (USA)
Heat 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs Coco Ho (HAW)
ROXY PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.90, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.83, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.64
Heat 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.77, Pauline Ado (FRA) 14.33, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 6.76
Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) 16.27, Malia Manuel (HAW) 14.23, Coco Ho (HAW) 11.16
Heat 4: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.73, Lakey Peterson (USA) 13.10, Sage Erickson (USA) 12.93
ROXY PRO FRANCE ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Alana Blanchard (HAW) 12.73 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 10.66
Heat 2: Pauline Ado (FRA) 10.94 def. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 9.53
Heat 3: Coco Ho (HAW) 14.00 def. Lee Ann Curren (FRA) 12.57
Heat 4: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 12.60 def. Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 12.10
Heat 5: Sage Erickson (USA) 12.60 def. Laura Enever (AUS) 12.23
Heat 6: Malia Manuel (HAW) 18.60 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 14.97
ROXY PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.00, Bianca Buitentag (ZAF) 13.66, Silvana Lima (BRA) 7.07
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.57, Laura Enever (AUS) 12.04, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 8.67
Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) 18.13, Malia Manuel (HAW) 12.40, Lee Ann Curren (FRA) 9.10
Heat 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.37, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 11.36, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 10.40
Heat 5: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 16.87, Sage Erickson (USA) 12.17, Pauline Ado (FRA) 12.07
Heat 6: Lakey Peterson (USA) 12.54, Coco Ho (HAW) 12.16, Paige Hareb (NZL) 6.90
