Joel Parkinson defeats Peterson Crisanto in Round 3 of Billabong Rio Pro
Australia’s Joel Parkinson got the better of Brazil’s Peterson Crisanto in the sixth heat of Billabong Rio Pro’s Round 3 that went down at the primary event site of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 15.
A successful result in Round 3 served to carry Parkinson in the fourth round of the third of ten stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title Series roster. Crisanto, on the other hand, had to step out of the race for the event
title.
Just a day earlier, some of the world’s best surfers were seen battling each other for survival while attempting to tame the stormy surfing conditions at hand. The situation had improved considerably on Tuesday as far as the surfing conditions were concerned,
with three-to-five foot barrels on offer. However, little had changed as far as the battles for survivals were concerned. The third round of the competition was another stage where the surfers could not afford to settle for anything less than a victory.
Looking to collect the desired result to keep himself alive in the race for the event title, Parkinson took on Crisanto in the sixth heat of Round 3. The 31-year-old Australian had been tipped as one of the strongest contenders for this year’s coveted ASP
World Title and while he had failed to get off to an ideal start, he was still pretty much hot in the race.
Looking to live up to the hype that surrounded him this season, Parkinson was determined to collect an excellent result at the latest stop of the elite tour. In order to do that, he first needed to move into the fourth round, which required him to defeat
the local talent Crisanto.
As the sixth heat got underway, Parkinson only took a few minutes before charging towards a juicy barrel that appeared. Making the most of the opportunity, he managed to post an 8.00 on the score-board to grab an early lead. Keeping the momentum going, he
soon backed it up with a 5.07-point ride to reach a heat-total of 13.07 points.
Looking a little scratchy during the initial stages of the heat, Crisanto only managed to score a 4.67 off his first business-wave. Even though he stepped up to collect an 8.00-point wave, the effort proved only good enough to take him to a heat-total of
12.67 points, 0.40 points behind the required score. As a result, he had no choice but to surrender victory to Parkinson, sending the latter into the next round.
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