The electrifying face-off between the leading surfers of 2011 ASP World Tour
The legendary American surfer Kelly Slater and the former three-time Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Champion Joel Parkinson from Australia took each other on in the first Semi-final of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons that went down on Saturday
afternoon, December 10, at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The highly-anticipated clash between two of the most exciting athletes in the sport lived up to the expectations, delivering a heavy dose of thrilling action as both the surfers
fought tooth and nail for the title shot. Parkinson took an excellent come-from-behind win over Slater to secure his place in the final.
The 30-year-old Parkinson had been phenomenal during the first two days of the final stop of 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, which also happened to be the last leg of the three-stop 2011 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series. Pipeline
had challenged the surfers with intimidating mammoth-sized waves, but the Gold Coast-native had managed to tame the conditions to steadily make his way through the initial rounds and the Quarter-final to reach the Semi-final of the competition.
The 39-year-old Slater was looking in good touch as well, something that came as no big surprise as surfing the Pipeline was something the iconic surfer had been looking forward to throughout the year. He had already bagged the 2011 ASP World Tour Title,
his 11th to date, which had served to completely relieve him of pressure. However, the Floridian was still being merciless to his competitors and kept putting on an epic performance in his heats to eventually make his way into the Semi-finals.
With four-to-eight foot waves on offer at the primary event site on Saturday, the showdown between Slater and Parkinson took place. As the heat kicked off, the Australian got off to an aggressive start and drew first blood to take an early lead. However,
Slater soon utilised a wave to post a 9.23 on the score-board and later added an additional 7.60 to his account, which carried him to a heat-total of 16.83 points.
Parkinson had his work cut out for him as he faced the demanding task of surpassing his rival’s challenging heat-total. The dire situation became a bit brighter for the Australian as he managed to score an 8.63 off his first business-wave a few minutes past
the mid-way stage. However, the hunt for another competitive score was turning out to be futile while the clock kept ticking.
Entering the final minute of the heat, Parkinson added a much-needed 8.60 to his account with a back-hand ride through a barrel, which took him to a decisive heat-total of 17.23 points. The sensational last-minute effort had turned out to be the turning-point
in the heat, sealing the fate of the first Semi-final in Parkinson’s favour.
The Australian admitted that the Semi-final against Slater had him really stretched to the limit, though a stroke of luck and sheer desperation had helped him in coming through in the end.
“I knew my work was cut out for me,” Parkinson admitted. “Surfing against Kelly [Slater] is the biggest thing you can do. After he got that 9, I thought, ‘here we go.’ I thought he peaked against John John and he was just at it again. That wave just came
to me. It was one of those situations where you forget about everything else, am I in the right position, am I doing anything right. Conditions are not perfect at all, but there are some really good waves.”
Slater praised the performance put on by Parkinson during the 30-minute battle and admitted that he had been pushed on the back-foot by his rival right from the beginning of the heat. The Floridian went on to say that he even though he had managed to gain
an upper hand in the heat, an unexpected shift in strategy worked out for the Australian, allowing the latter to claim victory.
The Slater-Parkinson face-off had indeed been one of the biggest highlights of 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters. The current ASP World Tour Champion had unarguably justified his current status through his remarkable performance during his final heat of the season,
while Parkinson established himself as a formidable force to be reckoned with.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: