Knife-edge win for Wilkinson
AUSTRALIAN Matt Wilkinson has won the Fiji Pro to claim top spot in world championship standings.
Wilkinson beat compatriot Connor O’Leary with his last wave in a closely-contested final at Cloudbreak yesterday.
O’Leary, a championship tour rookie in his first elite event final, began the decider strongly with a four-turn ride awarded 8.33 points — his highest score of the event.
Wilkinson hit back with an 8.57 wave before O’Leary registered a 7.37 to take him to the lead with a combined score of 15.70 from his two best waves.
In the dying stages of the 35-minute heat, Wilkinson claimed the advantage with another strong ride worth 8.03, with O’Leary unable to outdo his opponent’s 16.60 benchmark.
The result improves on Wilkinson’s runner-up finish to Brazillian Gabriel Medina last year and sees him take the title race leader’s yellow jersey off defending world champion John John Florence of Hawaii.
Wilkinson last wore the yellow jersey last September after winning the opening two stops on the tour on the Gold Coast and Bells Beach, before falling away to finish the sea- son ranked fifth.
“It’s back,” Wilkinson said of claiming the leader’s jersey.
“There’s a long time to go, but it definitely feels good; kind of picking up momentum rather than having everyone be like, ‘you’ve got the yellow jersey to lose’. “Now I’ve got it to keep.” The tour next heads to South Africa for the J-Bay Open in July.
O’Leary began the event strongly by eliminating 11time world champion Kelly Slater and seeing off fellow Australian and world No.6 Joel Parkinson in the final four.
His previous best showing was a quarter-final appearance at this year’s Gold Coast Pro, where he was knocked out by eventual winner Owen Wright in March.
He sustained a knee injury midway through Thursday’s final, but took nothing away from Wilkinson.
“He’s a legend. He got second here last year, so he deserves to get the win this year,” the 23-year-old O’Leary said. “He’s so consistent and he’s ripping in and surfing so good. “It’s amazing to see it and amazing to be a part of it.”
O’Leary’s Fiji efforts have propelled him from 15th to seven in the world rankings.