World title on line at Pipe Masters
THE 2017 World Surfing title will be decided at the infamous Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii over the next 10 days when the world’s top 32 ranked surfers plus four wildcards go head to head in the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons.
The 11th and final stop on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) starts today and sees four contenders still in line for the crown, with Durban’s Jordy Smith going into the event ranked No. 3 and needing to win this event to clinch his maiden world title.
Smith, who won the Bells Beach event in Australia at Easter and spent a considerable portion of the year at the top of the rankings, slipped up at the two events in Europe in October, finishing equal 13th in France and Portugal to drop behind reigning world champion John John Florence of Hawaii and 2014 world champ Gabriel Medina of Brazil.
“As far as the title race goes, I really just have to focus on myself, put my head down and give it my best shot,” said Smith. “There’s a lot that has to go down between the other guys, but I think it’s a really exciting time and it’s going to be a great showdown.”
The fourth contender is Julian Wilson of Australia who is the only one of the quartet with a previous victory in the Pipe Masters. Wilson will be eliminated from the title race if Florence advances through his round three match-up; Jordy can’t claim the title if Florence reaches the quarters and Medina, the current No. 2, is in the opposite half of the draw and will be relying on somebody else stopping Florence before the final.
The Brazilian, who reached the final but finished runner-up at Pipe in 2014 and 2015, comes into this year’s event full of confidence and in red hot form, having won the previous two events in France and Portugal back-to-back.
It’s going to a fascinating finale and all the action can watched live at www.worldsurfleague.com
South Africa may just have a second interest in the event as Capetonian Michael February, who narrowly missed out on qualification for the CT after finishing 15th in the WSL Qualifying Series (QS) last week, has been rewarded with a slot in the prestigious Pipeline Trials where 32 top rising stars and Pipeline experts compete for the two wildcards into the Pipe Masters.
Elsewhere, South Africa’s Anthony Smyth claimed a silver medal at the Stance ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championships in California last weekend.
It was Smyth’s third medal in what is being termed the Para-Surfing Games, having earned gold last year and silver at the inaugural event in 2015.
The ISA, who were successful in having surfing included as a sport in the 2020 Olympics in Japan, are working hard to have adaptive surfing included in future Paralympic Games.