Win lifts Jordy’s ranking
South African up to No 4 in the world after victory in the US
Paul Botha
JORDY Smith confirmed his status as one of the planet’s premier professional surfers by clinching an emphatic victory in the Hurley Pro at Trestles in California on Wednesday.
Smith defeated a slew of top-ranked opponents on the way to his fifth title on the elite Championship Tour, including 2012 world champion Joel Parkinson of Australia in the final, event favourite Filipe Toledo of Brazil in the semifinals and the peerless Kelly Slater of the US in the fourth round.
With all five of the topranked surfers eliminated by the end of round three, Smith took full advantage to make up more than 8 000 points on the rankings leaders.
He overtook Australia’s Adrian Buchan to move into fourth place, just 1 000 points behind another Australian, Matt Wilkinson, 2 000 behind Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and 6 500 adrift of Hawaii’s John John Florence, the No 1.
Now firmly in the race for this year’s world title, a fit, focused and motivated Smith will be back in Durban this weekend ahead of the European leg of the tour, which starts in France on October 4 before heading for Portugal on October 18 and then to Hawaii for the season-ending event at Pipeline in December. MICHAEL February of Kommetjie rocketed 45 positions up the Qualifying Series (QS) rankings to No 35 last weekend, when he reached the semi-finals of the Azores Pro, recording his career-best earnings of R77 000 and 3 550 points.
The 23-year-old Capetonian delivered a meritorious quarter-final win over the QS No 22, Mitch Coleborn of Australia, on the final day before bowing out to the eventual event winner, Ian Gouveia of Brazil, in the semis.
February will be joined by uMhlanga’s Beyrick de Vries – who slipped three places to No 27 after the Azores event – in the QS 10 000-rated Cascais Pro in Portugal, which gets under way next Saturday. MATT McGillivray of Jeffreys Bay advanced to the last 16 in the QS 1 500-rated Casablanca Pro yesterday after a series of strong displays in the booming 2m to 2.5m beach-break conditions in Morocco.
The 19-year-old rookie has already reached two finals in smaller QS events this year, won the hard-fought trials event for the Newcastle Pro in Australia before Easter and is on track to finish in the top 100 on the QS rankings in his first year as a full-time professional. SOUTH Africa is one of more than 30 nations to have contributed to a record-breaking total of more than 300 competitors participating in the World Junior Championships, which will get under way with the traditional Parade of Nations and Sands of the World ceremonies in the Azores today.
The South African squad will be determined to improve on their seventh-place finish in the junior champs in California last year.
All the action can be followed live online at www.isaworlds.com and at www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za.