Jake Sylvester claims 2013 Burton Toyota Pro Junior title
The 2013 Burton Toyota Pro Junior concluded with Australia’s Jake Sylvester walking away with the title after getting the better of America’s Kanoa Igarashi in the men’s final that took place at the Merewether in Newcastle, Australia, on Sunday, February
17.
Enjoying the support of the local crowd during the battle for the overall win, Sylvester lived up to the expectations of everyone who was cheering for him at the beach, delivering a performance that he would surely be remembering for a long time to come.
“I’m psyched!” Sylvester said. “To win in 2011 was great, but this is even more special. I was so close to making the ASP World Junior Championships last year, but I missed out by one spot. So to start the year off with a win is a boost to my confidence.
It took me about 10 minutes to walk up the beach because everyone was patting me on the back and saying congratulations and to have that support make it all feel even better.”
After putting on a consistent performance since the very first round, both Sylvester and Igarashi reached the final to square-off for the title.
The battle was expected to be a nail-biting one, taking into account the sort of form both the surfers were in.
With two-to-three foot waves on offer at the main event site, the stage was set for an adrenaline-pumping contest.
As the man-on-man battle got underway, Sylvester wasted absolutely no time to stamp his authority in the heat. Making the most of his local knowledge of the waves, the Australian surfer locked a solid wave to unleash an exquisite combo, earning a 9.00 for
the effort and consequently taking the lead.
Heading late into the heat, he added an even better 9.50 to his account, thus moving to a heat-total of 18.50 points.
Even though the fate of the final seemed to have been pretty much decided, Igarashi had no intention of going down without a fight.
The American surfer, however, only managed to get to a heat-total of 11.90 points after scoring a 5.25 and 6.65 off his best-two waves.
As a result, it turned out to be a comfortable victory for Sylvester, something that he surely deserved after the sort of performance that he had put up in the final.
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