Caio Ibelli downs Garrett Parkes in surf off to claim World Junior Title
Brazil’s Caio Ibelli prevailed over Australia’s Garrett Parkes in the World Title Surf Off that went down at the iconic Burleigh Heads in Gold Coast, Australia, on Saturday, January 28, to emerge as the new Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World
Junior Champion.
Prior to the third and final stop of the ASP World Junior Tour, Billabong ASP World Junior Championships, 10 surfers remained in contention for the event title. However, the list gradually got shorter as the final event of the tour progressed.
In the third round of the competition, Ibelli, who was the front-runner for the ASP World Junior Title following Australia’s Davey Cathels’ withdrawal from the competition due to an ankle injury, got eliminated from the competition by Australia’s un-seeded
Wade Carmichael.
Parkes made a premature exit from Billabong ASP World Junior Championships as well after tasting defeat at the hands of Brazil’s Filipe Toledo.
Following the results of the final stop of the tour, both Ibelli and Parkes were tied for first place due to equal points. In order to break the tie and determine the new ASP World Junior Champion, Ibelli and Parkes were pitted against each other in a 30-minute
surf off.
The stormy one-to-two foot waves on offer at the primary event site put the skills and perseverance of both the surfers to an ultimate test.
Ibelli got off to a strong start, locking a wave to unload a series of aerial reverse manoeuvres and earning an 8.67 for the effort. Parkes, who enjoyed the support of the hometown crowd and local knowledge of the waves, responded immediately with a 6.83-point
wave.
As the heat progressed, Ibelli adjusted his surfing to the conditions at hand and successfully added another 6.07 points to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of 14.74 points. With every passing second, the pressure kept mounting on Parkes.
In an attempt to keep the title from getting out of his reach, Parkes caught a relatively juicy wave in the dying minutes of the surf off to give it his all, but only managed to earn a 7.17 off it. As a result, he finished with a heat-total of 14.00 points,
consequently surrendering the ASP World Junior Title to Ibelli, making him the fifth-ever Brazilian to claim the coveted title.
While Ibelli found himself sitting on top in the ASP World Junior Rankings, Parkes took runner-up place while his compatriots Cathels and Freestone rounded out the third and fourth place respectively. All four surfers received last round seeding into the
2012 6-Star International World Qualifying Series events, the gateway to the ASP Men’s World Tour.
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