Justine Dupont overcomes Nage Melamed to claim Women’s EDP Surf Pro Estoril 2012 Title
Justine Dupont from France claimed her inaugural Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star event win at Women’s EDP Surf Pro Estoril 2012 by defeating Hawaii’s Nage Melamed in the final that went down at Praia de Carcavelos in Cascais, Portugal,
on Saturday, September 22.
The young surfer from Lacanau proved to be a force to be reckoned with despite pitted against some of the top female surfing talent from around the globe, including the 2012 ASP Women’s World Championship Tour contender.
“I’m just so happy,” Dupont said. “It’s the first time I’ve won a Star event and I think it’s the first time a European has won a 6-Star so I’m just over the moon right now! I’m so happy to have such a great team in France all the girls were rooting for
me so I’m super happy to make that final and I want to thank everyone who helped me and gave me great advice. That’s what I needed.”
The 21-year-old Dupont had been in an exceptional form at the latest ASP 6-Star event, putting on a series of consistent performances. Even an encounter with Australia’s Rebecca Woods in the semi-finals was unable to bring her excellent run to a halt and
saw her making it through into the finals.
Melamed had been nothing short of remarkable over the last few days either. The Hawaiian surfer had held her own despite pitted against some pretty tough challenge, including Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich in the semi-finals, but she had managed to make it through
them without faltering to successfully earn herself a shot at the title.
With two in-form surfers coming head-to-head in the final, the climax was expected to be nothing short of a thriller.
As the final got underway, Dupont did not waste any time and got down to business right away. She got her hands on a nice right-hander in the opening minutes of the heat and performed a couple of powerful turns to earn a 7.17 for the effort. Continuing the
momentum and going through a series of waves while searching for another decent score, she eventually managed to add an additional 5.50 points to her account, thus getting to a heat-total of 12.67 points.
Melamed did not have much luck with the waves throughout the entirety of the final. Her best-two waves only got her to a heat-total of 10.57 points, which just was not enough to challenge her rival’s score, thus causing her to settle for a runner-up finish.
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