Superior form enables Owen Wright to eliminate Matt Wilkinson from Quiksilver Pro France
Australia has a history of producing great surfers and while it is still a bit early to call Owen Wright and Matt Wilkinson legendary in the true sense of the word, the former of the two sure seems like he wants to get to the top and stay there.
After making a solid impact in the 2011 version of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour, adding even the likes of America’s Kelly Slater to his victims, the 22-year-old Wright continued to look pretty impressive in the 2012
version of elite tour as well.
Climbing to the ninth spot on the ASP World Championship Tour rankings, the Australian young gun was well aware of the importance of collecting a few more good results to keep his chances of getting his hands on the coveted World Title alive.
Coming to La Graviere in Hossegor, France, for the seventh of ten stops on the elite tour, Quiksilver Pro France, Wright was looking to collect a good result and in order to do that successfully, a good start was a must.
However, the sensation failed to get off to the best of starts. The demanding waves on the opening day of competition kept him at bay and prevented him from scoring big scores. In the end, he ended up succumbing to French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez, getting
relegated to the second round as a result.
The alternative route leading to the third round placed the threat of elimination over the head of the surfers and that is exactly what Wright had to cope with now that he found himself there.
Pitted against him was Wilkinson, who had the same fate as him in the opening round of the competition at the hands of Bourez.
With both the surfers determined to keep themselves alive in the contention for the event title, the crowd in attendance at the main event site expected a thrilling contest.
As the battle got for the Round 3 spot between the two Aussies got underway, Wright wasted absolutely no time to get down to business. He may have erred during Round 1, but he was looking to make amends right away.
Locking a wave in the opening minutes of the heat, he unloaded a series of exquisite tricks to receive an average score of 8.33 points from the judges.
After getting off to a confident start, the Australian continued to look impressive as the heat progressed, locking wave after wave as he searched for another good score.
The effort eventually paid off as he paddled himself into position to catch another juicy wave. This time around, he unleashed even more impressive tricks than before to earn an 8.43 from the judges. The latest wave took him to a heat-total of 16.76 points.
Staring at such a massive score in conditions that were not exactly easy to surf in, things did not look very good for Wilkinson. Rather than losing hope, he pushed himself hard.
After a long and determined hunt, he managed to earn an 8.90 off his first business-wave and went on to back it up with an additional 5.00-pont ride, thus reaching a heat-total of 13.90 points.
Wright therefore walked away with a convincing victory, proving to be the superior surfer of the day and justifying all the hype that surrounds him.
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