Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons looking off colour in 2013 ASP Women’s World Tour
While the fourth of seven stops on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Championship Tour, TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival featuring the Dow AgroSciences Pro, concluded with America’s Courtney Conlogue walking away with the win after
defeating Hawaii’s Coco Ho in the final that went down at Taranaki, New Zealand, on Saturday, April 6, 2013, the proceedings of the final day are still under discussion.
The reason for this is the fate of two of the most dominating female surfers of today, reigning five-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore and her compatriot Sally Fitzgibbons.
Before the latest campaign for the World Title began, both the Australians were being considered a heavy favourite to lead the rankings and compete with each other for the more dominating position.
Over the past few years, Gilmore has surely been far more dominating than Fitzgibbons, winning 5 World Titles in a matter of six years, but the latter had been no pushover either, regularly finishing in runner-up position.
This year, both of them have found themselves being pushed out of the spotlight as the likes of former ASP Women’s World Champion Carissa Moore, Australia’s Tyler Wright and America’s Courtney Conlogue have gotten hold of the top three spots in the current
ASP Women’s World Championship rankings.
For Fitzgibbons and Gilmore, TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival was an excellent opportunity to get in a strong position in the current season of the ASP Women’s World Championship Tour.
Both of them looking extremely formidable throughout the course of the initial rounds and the quarter-finals, but ended up suffering a surprising defeat in the semi-finals.
Gilmore found herself bested by Conlogue in the first semi-final, finishing with a heat-total of 13.97 against her rival’s 14.47 points.
Fitzgibbons did not enjoy a better luck than her rival either. Going against Ho in the second semi-final, she barely missed out on victory after finishing merely 0.09 points short of her rival’s heat-total of 15.33 points.
The elite female surfers will be heading to Brazil for Billabong Rio Pro, the fifth of seven stops on the 2013 ASP Women’s World Championship Tour. It remains to be seen how well they do after moving out of the Australian continent.
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