Stephanie Gilmore defeats Tyler Wright to enter Billabong Women’s Rio Pro Quarter-finals
Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore made her way through into the Quarter-final of the Billabong Women’s Rio Pro, the fifth of seven stops on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour, after claiming top honours in the second heat
of Round 4 that went down at the primary event site of Barra da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday, May 12.
She secured her place in the next stage of the competition by getting the better of her compatriot Tyler Wright, consequently eliminating the latter from the race for the event title.
The surfing conditions at the primary event site did not turn out to be too friendly on day 4 of the competition. While the first and second round of the competition took place in promising conditions at the alternate event venue of Arpoador, the third and
fourth round took place in tricky one-to-foot waves, keeping the surfers on the back-foot and making the hunt for a couple of decent scores a real testing one.
Gilmore, former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion and current No.1 on the ASP Women’s World Title rankings, had been struggling to find consistency in her form since arriving at Brazil. She had taken a trip to the elimination round on the opening day
of the competition and found herself on the edge on day 4 yet again. This time, however, she was pitted against Wright who was in a formidable form this season.
As the second heat of Round 4 got underway, the 24-year-old Gilmore got off to a shaky start, getting a series of ordinary scores off demanding waves. However, she managed to break free of the shackles and step up in the late stages of the battle, locking
her first business-wave to unload a series of exquisite manoeuvres to score a 9.33 on the score-board. She immediately backed it up with a 6.93-point ride, thus finishing with a heat-total of 16.26 points.
Wright struggled to get her hands on a decent potential scoring opportunity. After a long and determined search, she scored a 6.17 off her first business-wave and soon added an additional 5.27 points to her account to reach a heat-total of 11.44 points.
The effort did not bring the desired result for her, forcing her to concede victory and consequently the Quarter-final spot to Gilmore.
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