Matt Banting and Nikki Van Dijk win Pro Junior at Australian Open of Surfing – Surfing News
Australia’s Matt Banting and Nikki Van Dijk walked away as champions from Manly Beach in New South Wales, Australia, after winning the Australian Open of Surfing Pro Junior on Saturday, February 18.
Banting, who had put on an outstanding performance in the Men’s Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star division earlier in the morning, continued to display a formidable form while squaring off with fellow countryman Tim Macdonald in the Final
of Pro Junior division.
Banting got off to a promising start, collecting a 6.73 off his first business-wave and later added another 7.47 points to his account to get to a heat-total of 14.20 points.
Macdonald had no intention of letting his rival walk away with an easy victory and offered a strong challenge throughout the entirety of the man-on-man battle. Scoring a 7.17 off his first wave, he was well set to take the win. However, he blew the opportunity
after failing to add another big score to his account. With a 6.20 off his second business-wave, he finished 0.83 behind Banting, consequently surrendering victory to the latter.
“I'm over the moon right now!” Banting said after the heat. “I've been trying to win an ASP Pro Junior Series event for the last two years, I'm so happy! Tim (Macdonald) rips, just to be in a heat like that with him means a lot because we're good mates.
I just want to see how well I can do in the ASP 6-Star finals tomorrow.”
In the women’s Pro Junior Final, Dijk got the better of her compatriot Philippa Anderson to get her hands on the overall victory.
As the battle for top honours got underway, Dijk drew first blood with a solid 7.17-point wave and soon backed it up with a 4.83-point wave to get to a heat-total of 12.00 points.
Anderson responded with a 4.67 and 3.47-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 8.14 points. Her lacklustre effort resulted in a 3.86-point deficit, forcing her to concede victory to Dijk
“I'm so so happy!” Van Dijk said. “It's a great start to the year, I know I said the same thing at the last event, but it's still all sinking in. To win here at the first Australian Open means so much.”
The fate of the Pro Junior division may have been decided, but there was still plenty of action to come at Manly Beach on Sunday with the final-day action Men’s and Women’s division.
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