Sally Fitzgibbons downs Stephanie Gilmore to claim 2012 Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach title
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons took home the 2012 Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach title after getting the better of her compatriot Stephanie Gilmore in a hard-fought Final at Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, on Saturday, April 7.
The second stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour had hosted the best female surfers from around the world. The crowd got treated to a series of enthralling battles in demanding surfing conditions.
With offshore four-to-five foot waves breaking at the primary event site on Saturday, the 2011 ASP Women’s World Runner-up Fitzgibbons took on the former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion and winner of this season’s first elite tour event Gilmore in a
battle for the event title.
As the battle got underway, Fitzgibbons got off to a modest start, locking her first business-wave to earn a 3.43 off it. As the heat progressed, she went on to add an additional 7.33 points to her account to take her heat-total to 10.76 points.
The score hardly seemed like a winning one, especially while squaring off with the likes of Gilmore, but the technical surfing conditions kept everyone guessing how the Final was going to conclude.
The 24-year-old Gilmore failed to get off to a good start as well and merely scored a 3.83 off her first business-wave. She began to threaten her rival’s heat-total halfway through the heat by scoring a 6.50 off her second business-wave, but the failure
to improve her heat-total even further resulted in her finishing 0.43 points behind her rival.
As a result, Fitzgibbons got to claim her first victory of the 2012 ASP Women’s World Tour.
“I’m speechless,” Fitzgibbons said. “I’m so pumped. That was tough. Bells went to sleep on both of us and it got real tactical at the end. Steph [Gilmore] only needed a small score and I just hung on for dear life. That wave she took at the end looked so
small and I had a feeling there was going to be another set, but there wasn’t. I just can’t believe I won Bells two years in a row!”
Gilmore admitted that the final battle against Fitzgibbons turned out to be pretty exciting and the victory went to the more deserving of the two.
The ASP Top 17 will resume their campaign for the coveted ASP Women’s World Title at TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival that is scheduled to get underway at Taranaki, New Zealand, from April 11 – 15.
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