Sally Fitzgibbons looking strong in the 2012 ASP Women’s World Tour
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons is without any doubt one of the best female surfers in the current line-up of prestigious female athletes competing for the coveted 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Title Series.
The 21-year-old New South Wales-based surfer stepped within the ranks of the elite ASP female surfers in 2009. She wasted no time in warming up to the intense competition and managed to finish in overall fifth place. Just a year later, she announced herself
as one of the strongest contenders for the coveted top honours, but was eventually forced to settle for runner-up place.
The previous season of the ASP Women’s World tour saw Fitzgibbon finish in second place yet again after giving the reigning ASP Women’s World Champion Carissa Moore a real tough fight throughout the course of the elite tour. Even thought the Hawaiian surfer
eventually managed to walk away with the title, it was established that Fitzgibbons was getting closer to nailing her first ASP Women’s World Title.
Kicking off the latest campaign for the coveted title with Roxy Pro in Gold Coast, Australia, Fitzgibbons got off to an ideal start. She was familiar with the waves at Snapper Rocks and used this to her advance to treat her local fans to a spectacular performance.
Despite such a solid start, Fitzgibbons failed to build momentum after getting relegated to Round 4. However, she managed to bounce back and made it through into the Quarter-finals, where she clinched victory to reach the Semi-finals. The former four-time
ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore got the better of her in the Semi-final, though Fitzgibbons did not go down without putting up a strong fight.
Getting a third-place finish in the opening event, the Australian surfer had all the reason to feel confident as she headed to Bells Beach for Rip Curl Women’s Pro, second of seven stops on the 2012 ASP Women’s World Tour. The week completely belonged to
Fitzgibbons as she followed one spectacular performance with another, gradually making her way through the initial rounds, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals to reach the Final. She found herself pitted against Gilmore once again, but this time held her own to
take down her compatriot in a low-scoring intense battle to claim the overall event win.
Despite receiving a huge confidence boost after her successful result at Bells Beach, Fitzgibbons did not look to be in top form during the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival featuring the Dow AgroSciences Pro in Taranaki, New Zealand.
She kicked-off the event with a successful heat, but struggled to find consistency in her form. After getting relegated to the fourth round at the hands of America’s Lakey Peterson, the Australian surfer managed to bounce back to reach the Quarter-finals,
only to get eliminated by the reining ASP Women’s World Champion Moore, thus getting an equal fifth-place finish.
Fitzgibbons seemed to have found her form as she returned to her backyard to compete in Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, the fourth of seven stops on the 2012 ASP Women’s World Tour.
She rocketed off to a great start with a successful Round 1 heat and continued to exhibit a formidable form in Round 3 to comfortably make it into the Quarter-finals. However, an in-form Courtney Conlogue surprised her with a spectacular performance of her
own to claim victory and clinch the Semi-final slot, thus forcing Fitzgibbons to settle for her second consecutive fifth-place finish in the season.
Fitzgibbons is still very much in contention for the 2012 ASP Women’s World Title despite the scales tipping in Gilmore’s favour. It will be interesting to see whether the young Australian surfer manages to finally rise to the top of the ASP Women’s World
Tour rankings, or if she is forced to settle for runner-up place for the third year in a row.
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