Jake Sylvester downs Mitchell Parkinson to claim 2013 Rangi Pro Junior
Australia’s Jake Sylvester claimed top honours at the 2013 Rangi Pro Junior, an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Australasian Pro Junior Series event, after getting the better of his fellow countryperson Mitchell Parkinson in the final that went
down at Rangiroa in French Polynesia on Monday, April 8, 2013.
There were huge expectations from the final as both the surfers had been looking in good form over the last few days of the competition.
Even on the final day, Sylvester had gotten the better of his compatriot Jake Scollard in the first-semi, while Parkinson had downed another Australian local Soli Bailey to make their way into the man-on-man battle for the even victory.
However, it turned out to be a slow and low-scoring affair, with both the surfers struggling to adapt to the challenging six foot waves that were on offer.
As the battle for the event victory got underway, neither Sylvester nor Parkinson had an easy time to get their hands on potential scoring opportunities.
After a long and determined search, Sylvester managed to get a couple of decent scores on the score-board to eventually finish with a heat-total of 11.00 points.
Parkinson was unable to find his rhythm throughout the course of the final and only managed to get to a two-wave total of 5.15 points, thus losing out to his compatriot by a huge margin.
Sylvester was ecstatic to register a win at Rangiroa and understandably so, since he had worked so hard and shown some real consistency to earn it.
“It was a slow final, but I’m over the moon,” Sylvester said. “I saw that the last few heats the waves were slowing down so when I got a wave I knew I had to make the most of it. I think after winning the first event it’s helped me to be more relaxed and
surf better and be more confident. I was sort of lucky the waves slowed down because Mitch (Parkinson) has been getting the best barrels all week. This event and the waves have been amazing, I’m so happy right now.”
It turned out to be an exciting day on the whole despite the challenging conditions, a day that Sylvester would surely be celebrating for the next few days.
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