Italo spins judges out
BRAZILIAN surfer Italo Ferreira pulled off a dazzling 540-degree mid-air spin yesterday to record a rare perfect 10 at the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast.
The world No.16 got huge air to land the difficult move in 1-1.5m surf at the opening event of the 2017 World Surf League at Snapper Rocks.
Ferreira easily accounted for his second-round opponent, Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti, with a score of 17.83 to 11.70 .
“Occasionally, we see moments of just amazing brilliance,” head judge Rich Porta said.
“You break that air manoeuvre down and he’s got all the parts of the criteria for variety and innovation.
“That will be a highlight at the end of the year, I guarantee it.
“It’s a scale-setter for the rest of the field to go, ‘the possibility of getting really high scores is there, you just have to go massive’, which is what we saw.”