Wilson remains in title hunt

THEY’RE the best of mates but Mick Fanning was unable to do Julian Wilson any favours at the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal as the World Surf League title race goes down to the wire.

Wilson remains in the hunt for a maiden world title heading into the final event of the year at Pipeline in December.

The Sunshine Coast surfer heads into the final event of the year in fourth place and trails championship leader and defending world titleholder John John Florence by just over 8000 points.

He has a hard road ahead, needing to win at Pipe and have those above him – Florence, Gabriel Medina and Jordy Smith – be knocked out in the third round of earlier, to win the title.

Wilson kept his title hopes alive after finishing runner-up to Medina in Portugal. The Brazilian won his second successive title to leap six places on the competition ladder after Fanning was unable to stop him in the quarter-finals.

“Before I wasn’t but now I’m definitely thinking about the title,” Medina said.

“(Florence) has an advantage with more points but you know anything can happen.

“I want to surf Pipe so bad, I love that wave and I got some good results there in the past and nothing’s impossible.”

Wilson moved up two places on the competition ladder to remain the only Australian in the title hunt after Byron Bay’s Matt Wilkinson and former Lennox Head surfer Owen Wright were knocked out of the race in Portugal.

In 1-1.5m conditions, Medina stayed busy and eventually got the best of Wilson, with the pair showing off their skills in the air and on the wave face.

“It was an awesome few days here, we had great challenging conditions before and cute smaller conditions today,” Wilson said.

“We always get a good test coming here to Peniche, it can be intimidating.”