Snapper Rocks absolutely pumped during February, but come March and the opening event of the 2016 WSL season the waves weren’t quite as good. The show must go on though, and the 2016 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast ran alongside the 2016 Roxy Pro Gold Coast, bringing the surfing world to the laid back beach town of Coolangatta. What the contest lacked in quality surf it certainly made up for in surprises, so let’s get stuck in to how it went down.
Starting with the guys, the round stages saw many of the tour veterans get taken out. Round 2 saw the likes of Julian Wilson, Kelly Slater, Kai Otton and Jordy Smith all out of the contest. Slater was taken out by Stu Kennedy, an injury replacement local surfer from Lennox Head. Funnily enough, Kennedy was riding one of the new surfboards that Kelly is going to release under his new brand next month. The Sci-Phi helped Stu win the match up, and his long friendship with shaper Dan ‘Tomo’ Thompson, who worked with Kelly to create the board, helped to tweak Stu’s version to perfection…
The upsets didn’t stop in Round 2, with local favorite Mick Fanning being sent packing by Sebastien Zietz in Round 3, and some rookies stamping their mark on the contest. Kanoa Igarashi battled with Jeremy Flores and came out on top, while Caio Ibelli waved goodbye to Josh Kerr, and Conner Coffin progressed thanks to a win over Italo Ferreira. Check out the highlights of the day when the rookies ruled at Snapper…
The rookies winning streak didn’t last into the finals, although amazingly Stu Kennedy took his quest all the way to the semi finals before losing to Kolohe Andino by 0.03 of a point. The reigning world champion Adriano de Souza managed to hold on until the quarter finals where he was narrowly beaten by Matt Wilkinson, who went on to win the event in a final match up with Felipe Toledo.
Now over to the women, where the results coming in were a little more predictable. By the end of the rounds we had all the major players still in the running, Carissa Moore, Stephanie Gilmore, Tyler Wright and Courtney Conlogue to name a few. In a moment of unpredictability, French surfer Johanne Defay put it on the line and nailed a nosepiece reverse, a move she hasn’t performed in a contest before, which helped her to progress through the quarter finals and into the semis….
Defay didn’t make it past the semi finals, and neither did last year’s champion Carissa Moore. The trophy ended up going to Tyler Wright, who comfortably beat Courtney Collogue in the final, and both the Wright brothers, Owen and Mikey, were there to celebrate with her. So it ended up being Aussie winners for both the men and women, no doubt getting Aussie fans stoked, but the end of the season is a long way off yet. The Bells Beach event is up next, and we leave you to watch the 2016 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast from a birds eye view before you go.