Malia Manuel talks about her first few months on the ASP Women’s World Tour
Hawaii’s professional surfer Malia Manuel recently opened up about surfing alongside the elite female surfer after getting onboard the campaign for the coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Title.
In an exclusive interview to ESPN, the 18-year-old sensation managed to stay focused and hold her own during the first half of her rookie year on the elite tour.
Commenting on her first three months on the ASP Women’s World Tour, she said,”Three months flew by in Australia. I’ve never been away from home that long so I was anticipating what it would be like. Doing seven events back to back to back was a challenge,
but I managed to stay healthy and it all was worth it.”
Conceding that she was just 13 years old when former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore clinched her first ASP World Title, it was really exciting and a real honour for her to find herself competing against the Australian legend.
Despite getting the better of Gilmore twice at the third of seven stops on the 2012 ASP Women’s World tour, Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, Manuel admitted that the heats were quite challenging, especially the early rounds. Even after grabbing a lead
in the Quarter-finals of the recently concluded elite tour event, she struggled to digest the fact that all she had to do was prevent her rival from catching a good wave to claim the win.
The Hawaiian sensation hopes that her recent results on the tour will serve to keep her from getting pitted against Gilmore in the early rounds of the future events.
While there are a number of promising young female surfers competing in their rookie season of the elite tour, Manuel has managed to break away from the pack. Even the likes of Australia’s Laura Enever have not made the sort of impact that the young Hawaiian
has made.
Manuel is currently enjoying a dream form and thus collecting excellent results despite pitted against the top female talent from around the globe.
Manuel will be seen in action at Billabong Rip Pro, fifth stop on the 2012 ASP Women’s World Tour, which is scheduled to go down at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from May 9 – 13.
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