You don’t need to watch Dawn Patrol to hear about the world title race, here are the four girls in contention going into the Roxy Pro.
Sally Fitzgibbons
When Carissa Moore fell to Lakey Peterson in Round 4 at Lowers Sally Fitzgibbons would have looked up from the voodoo doll she’d been stabbing and breathed a sigh of relief. She was world number one and nobody could take it from her (for a week). With the Roxy Pro due to start any day, she’s going to have to rely upon her win in beachbreak-a-rama Brazil and training days on the South Coast to ditch the bridesmaid tag once and for all. According to Pierre-Arnaud & Nykola from Surfagram, holding a 5th place as her throw away positions her perfectly for the title even if she has a bad result in Europe. A podium finish and she’s got one hand on the crown.
Sally Fitzgibbon’s worst place finish is a fifth this year. Will Sal taste French champagne? Photo: JoliStephanie Gilmore
Coming off a win at Trestles Steph is white hot. Strider said it perfectly, “There were a lot of guys who didn’t want to surf that heat.” You think that win at Trestles felt good? Damn straight it did. Sally beat Steph by the slimmest of margins in Fiji and when I ran into her sucking back cocktails at Waqa’s bar she was near inconsolable. Ain’t nothing better than payback in the form of a rematch. Her style is undeniable in and out of the water (seen last year’s Roxy Pro ad?), and as the defending champion here in France, everything is stacked in her favour. The 5x world champion has just found fifth gear.
If you witnessed Steph in the final at Trestles you would know that it is ‘game on’ for the world title. Photo: ASP/KirstinCarissa Moore
Oh Carissa, what went wrong at Trestles? You had that Apple Pie smile, a fistful of Mayhem’s and arguably the best rail work that usually make mince meat out of your opponents. Maybe it was all that Red Bull that gave her the jitters but Carissa definitely didn’t “find her wings” at Lowers. France could also prove challenging for the Hawaiian, whom has found her success predominately in right hand reef breaks where she can unload all that power. Don’t count her out though, the title isn’t slip-slip-slipping away just yet.
Don’t count out the smiling assassin just yet. A result in France and she will be ominous going into Maui. Photo: ASP/KirstinTyler Wright
The forgotten one in this world title race is no stranger to beach beaks. Like Sal, she’s grown up on a diet of sandbars having had success at the US Open in Huntington and now calls the sand-bottom miracle that is the Gold Coast home. Interestingly Tyler told me after her second place finish to Bells that it’s actually the dancing she does away from competition that has really been her source of success. If you’ve ever been close by the Wright clan warming up you you’ll know that she gets well and truly charged up to compete. A win here and she can leapfrog the field into second place if the other three girls only get a fifth place finish. Hit the lights, the party is about to get started.
The dancing queen Tyler Wright dropping big moves in Margaret River. Photo: JoliAu revoir
