Three events into this year’s WSL Championship Tour and the 2016 Drug Aware Margaret River Pro did not fail to disappoint. There’s news to report from both in and out the water, and here’s betting that nobody guessed at the start of the event who ended up coming out on top. Hawaiian Sebastien Zietz somehow managed to clinch the win, his first ever win at a CT event, despite the fact that he didn’t even qualify for the Tour this year. He was luckily thrown a bone by WSL Commissioner Kieran Perrow at the Gold Coast event earlier this year and fully capitalised on the opportunity. Just a few months ago he was looking at dropping back down into the Qualifying Series, but now Futures Fins rider Seabass is number 2 in the world, and he’s stoked!
We’re going to work backwards through this event, seeing as you already know who won already. Zietz was up against Aussie Julian Wilson, and they surfed toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow in this incredibly well matched final. Seabass managed to get in early with a 9.10 that Wilson just couldn’t match, but it really was anyone’s final right up until the final buzzer. A long lull in the waves put both surfers off their stride, but no one can deny the Hawaiian earned the win.
Wilson, part of the Catch Surf team, would have snagged the number 3 spot if he had won, but he’s still sitting pretty at number 7 going into the event at Rio next month. As for Matt Wilkinson, his winning streak finally came to an end in Round 5 of the event, but he’s still in the number 1 spot so he keeps his yellow jersey for now. Wilko’s luck ran out in a match up against Nat Young, and he was lucky to come away without an injury after a nasty wipeout. Watch as one of Margaret River’s unmistakably heavy waves comes crashing down on Wilko’s skull.
Now for Taj Burrow’s announcement, which many may have seen coming but few wanted to happen. He only made it to Round 3 at the 2016 Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, but the West Oz local had already decided to bow out of competitive surfing before the event started. He’s leaving the Championship Tour after a staggering 18 years on the circuit. This year was his 19th, but the only other event he’ll surf in this year is the Fiji contest, one of his favourites. For fans of Adam Melling, you’ll be glad to hear that he is back on the Tour thanks to Taj dropping out. For fans of Taj, hold back your tears and listen to the man himself explain his decision…
Now to finish off we have some insane aerial trickery from none other that John John Florence, who put on quite a show in the early rounds of the event. He finished top of his heat in Round 1, landing an air reverse under the lip, as you do…
In Round 3 he pulled off a flat air rotation that sent the crowd hooting. Futures Fins have got to love that John John rides for them, despite the fact he still didn’t manage to win the heat. Prepare to be amazed, and fingers crossed we see more of this sort of stuff from JJF this year…
That’s it for this month, we’ll be back with all the action from Brazil at the 2016 Oi Rio Pro, kicking off on May 10th.