Sally Fitzgibbons walks away victorious from the Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival
The Subaru Pro TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival wrapped up on Saturday, April 30th, at the Back Beach in Taranaki, New Zealand. Evidently in excellent form throughout the competition, Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons continued to dominate the competition
on the last day to grab her second consecutive Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) victory. She bested the event’s defending champion, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, in the final to seal the fate of the third of the seven ASP stops scheduled for this year.
The final day of the Subaru Pro kicked off with the repechage round, where eight surfers competed to secure a place in the quarter-final. France’s Pauline Ado defeated Brazil’s Silvana Lima in the first heat, while Hawaii’s Moore managed to overcome Australia’s
Rebecca Woods in the following heat. Australia’s Chelsea Hedges defeated her compatriot Stephanie Gilmore in the third heat to bring about the biggest upset of the day. The quarter-final field was completed by the sole New Zealand surfer participating in the
event, Paige Hareb, after she defeated Hawaii’s Melanie Bartels in the fourth heat.
The event moved on to the quarter-finals. In the first heat, Australia’s Tyler Wright eliminated Ado from the competition. The second heat saw Moore end America’s Courtney Conlogue’s title pursuit prematurely after a real nail-biter. Fitzgibbons continued
to display her exceptional form on the last day, beating Australia’s Chelsea Hedges in the third heat. In the last quarter-final, Hawaii’s Coco Ho broke many hearts by eliminating the local favourite, Hareb.
With the quarter-finals separating the in-form surfers from the rest, the semi-finals promised to be real intense. In the first semi-final, Moore faced Wright for the coveted place in the final. The Hawaiian prevailed over the Australian, with a score of
14.50 against 9.67, to make her way to the final.
In the second semi-final, Fitzgibbons went against Ho for the coveted final spot. The showdown turned out to be completely one-sided as Fitzgibbons sailed smoothly to the final stage after posting a score of 13.34 after two-waves while Ho finished the proceedings
with a mere 0.80. The Hawaiian was out of ideas as she faced one of the toughest conditions of the day due to the change of tides.
Even during the final, the conditions remained challenging as the tides continued to remain low. However, the conditions failed to have a substantial impact on Fitzgibbon’s performance and she picked two waves to land several spectacular manoeuvres. The
two waves earned her a pair of 8.00. On the other hand, Moore failed to cope with the uncooperative tide condition and ended up with an impressive 6.86.
The Australian was ecstatic to walk away from the event victorious, saying, “This means the world to me. I'm so stoked to get a win here in New Zealand. Last year I got runner-up so to take the win today is extra special.”
While Moore had managed to prevail in the first stop, Fitzgibbons has remained triumphant in the next two stops of the ASP World Tour, with Moore finishing in second place. The Australian has a 500 point lead over the Hawaiian as the pursuit for the 2011
ASP Women’s World title continues.
The next stop of the World Tour, the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic, will be held in Dee Why, Australia, from May 3rd-8th.
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