- 2017-06-14
-
SPORTS
World Surf League: Fiji Pro Round 3, Five Champions Exit Fiji Early
WSL Championship, Outerknown Fiji Pro, after long waiting, the remaining eight heats of Round 3 resumed on June 13 in the four-to-five foot waves at Cloudbreak.
Everyone is surprised what happened to the champions in Round 3. Last week, 2014's World Champion Gabriel Medina (BRA) was defeated by Italo Ferreira (BRA) in Heat 4 Round 3.
This time, 3-time world Champion Mick Fanning (AUS), current World Champion John John Florence (HAW), 11-time world Champion Kelly Slater (USA) and 2015's World Champion Adriano de Souza (BRA) were knocked out and left this event early.
Also, Quiksilver Pro winner Owen Wright (AUS) and Rip Curl Pro winner Jordy Smith (ZAF) were defeated, too.
Instead, 2017 CT Rookie Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) and rookie Connor O’Leary (AUS) advanced to Round 4.
Joel Parkinson (AUS), who is 2012 WSL Champion, advanced to Round 4 only as one of the champion.
Heat 6 winner, Leonardo Fioravanti said;
“The waves are really fun and I just got into a good rhythm. My mom always tells me that I surf better on my backhand so I was just thinking about what my mom always says and trying to hit the lip as hard as I could, and it paid off. I felt really confident. It is a dream to surf these types of conditions at Cloudbreak with nobody else out.”
Heat 8 winner, Connor O’Leary said;
“It is always tough to win that low scoring, but I am over the moon. I thought the energy was there at the start, but as soon as the trades came up, it went to nothing. I was glad I had two average scores to finish it off. I made a few errors on a few waves that I could have maximized my score on, but I am stoked to win.”
Outerknown Fiji Men’s Pro Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Ian Gouveia (BRA) 15.66 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 15.26
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.04 def. Frederico Morais (PRT) 10.20
Heat 3: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16.84 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 5.67
Heat 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 15.83 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.47
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.53 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.20
Heat 6: Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 16.83 def. John John Florence (HAW) 13.33
Heat 7: Joan Duru (FRA) 17.60 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.73
Heat 8: Connor O’Leary (AUS) 10.74 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 10.34
Heat 9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.30 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.84
Heat 10: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.10 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.90
Heat 11: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.93 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 12.80
Heat 12: Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 14.83 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.33
All photos copyright by World Surf League.- source : World Surf League