Gilmore among six surfers to taste success in Round 2 of 2013 Drug Aware Margaret River Pro
The second stop on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Championship tour, Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, continued at the primary event site of Margaret River in Australia on Sunday, March 17, 2013.
The latest competition saw the completion of Round 2, with six of the 12 surfers failing to register a win in the opening round managing to bounce back and successfully extend their life in the competition.
Quality four foot waves graced Margaret River on the second day of Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, setting up an ideal stage for the delivery of intense and exciting battles as the top female talent from around the world got set to battle it out for survival
in one-on-one battles.
The proceedings of the day kicked-off with Hawaii’s Alana Blanchard taking on Brazil’s Silvana Lima. Blanchard managed to walk away with a convincing victory after finishing with a heat-total of 12.00 points against her rival’s two-wave total of 9.73 points.
The second heat saw Hawaii’s Malia Manuel failing to hold her own against New Zealand’s Paige Hareb, consequently getting eliminated while sending the latter into the next round.
Reigning five-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore had made an uncharacteristic stumble in her Round 1 heat, which had landed her in the relegation round against Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich.
The Australian queen of surfing made amends for disappointing her fans on the opening day of the competition and put on a memorable show during her heat against Mulanovich.
Gilmore registered a dominating and decisive heat-total of 18.87 points, making the modest 12.50 heat-total by her opponent irrelevant.
“I really enjoy the rights at Margies when it’s this size,” Gilmore said. “It felt nice to get back in the groove of things. Losing to Felicity (Palmateer) in Round 1 wasn’t great, but she’s the local girls and she will be the one to watch at this event.
It builds my confidence to get a couple 9s, but I’ll have to keep improving at this event if I want to do well, Margaret River is a challenging wave. I love Western Australia, the food, the wine and the coastline is stunning.”
America’s Lakey Peterson defeated an off-colour Rebecca Woods of Australia in the fourth heat to secure her place in the third round.
Hawaii’s Coco Ho downed America’s Sage Erickson, while South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag defeated France’s Pauline Ado in the fifth and sixth heat respectively to make their way through into the next round.
The female surfers will continue their pursuit of the event victory in Round 3 when the 2013 Drug Aware Margaret River Pro resumes.
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