Julian Wilson Wins Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Parkinson Retains ASP WCT Lead
Julian Wilson (AUS), 23, claimed his maiden ASP WCT win today at the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.
SUPERTUBOS, Peniche/Portugal (Friday, October 19, 2012) – Julian Wilson (AUS), 23, has claimed his maiden ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) victory today, besting a rampaging Gabriel Medina (BRA), 18, in the dying seconds of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.
Stop No. 8 of 10 on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Portugal played host to pivotal moments in the hunt for the 2012 ASP World Title as well as today’s dramatic culmination between two rising superstars.
In a re-match of the surfers’ Final bout from France last season, Medina and Wilson went blow-for-blow in today’s Final in front of a capacity crowd at Supertubos. While Medina favored a more technical approach to the heat, executing a number of progressive maneuvers, it was Wilson’s barrel sense and combination ability that ultimately tipped the heat in the final moments.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Wilson said. “I lost to Gabriel (Medina) on the buzzer last year in France and to beat him back again on the buzzer, I don’t even know how to describe the feeling. He was trying to hold onto the lead in the end there, he pretty much did what I did in the Final last year in France. He was too busy worrying about me, and that wave came in the dying moments and that was the scorer. I don’t know what to say, I’m just so happy.”
Wilson’s final wave, a multi-section barrel followed by a number of turns, came in at an 8.43 and gave the Australian the edge with no time left on the clock. Both surfers arrived to the shoreline without knowing who had won the Final.
“I felt like I got the score,” Wilson said. “Especially after my other wave that I got a 7 on, but at the same time the crowd was pretty quiet. I think there are a lot of Portuguese supporters out there. I didn’t feel that confident walking up the beach; Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) had my back but he wasn’t 100% sure. Then they just read the score out and I was so happy.”
Today’s win vaults Wilson from No. 12 to No. 6 on the ASP WCT rankings and sets him amongst the very best surfers in the world for the final leg of the 2012 season.
“My number one goal this year was to win one of these World Championship Tour events,” Wilson said. “I won Huntington, which was pretty big but it wasn’t a ‘CT so there was definitely a space left in there for me to accomplish. To win here is just unbelievable.”
Medina, who had been in devastating form throughout the entire event, held a commanding lead for the bulk of the hard-fought Final, but was unable to close the door on Wilson. The Australian’s final ride narrowly edged Medina out of collecting a third elite tour win and the young Brazilian was brief in post-event interviews.
“That was a tough heat against Julian (Wilson),” Medina said. “Unfortunately he got the score on that last wave. I had a fun run through this event and the waves were really really good.”
Today’s Runner-Up finish moves Medina from 9th to 8th on the ASP WCT rankings.
Adriano de Souza (BRA), 25, 2011 Rip Curl Pro Portugal winner, smashed through Jeremy Flores (FRA), 24, in the Quarterfinals this morning but was unable to fight back from Wilson’s early-heat blitzkrieg in the Semifinal battle.
“I feel good,” De Souza said. “A third place is an amazing result and to be in the Top 3 guys in an event is an unbelievable feeling. I’m really happy to see Medina in the Final and representing Brazil, and I’m sure our whole country is proud to see him out there. It would have been amazing to have two Brazilians in the Final but Julian (Wilson), I really have to respect him, he’s surfing amazing and he did so well in that Semifinal. Everything has connected for me these last two weeks. I was under pressure because France was not a good event for me and then to come here as the defending champ, it’s a lot of pressure.. A third is a really good result towards my goal to finish in the Top 5 in the world. Brazil and Portugal have a great connection and we’re friendly countries, the food and everything is very similar so I do feel like in my second home here.”
Today’s Equal 3rd place finish bumps De Souza from 6th to 5th on the ASP WCT rankings heading into the final two events of the season.
Joel Parkinson (AUS) 31, continued his standout performances at Supertubos this morning, besting lethal rookie John John Florence (HAW), 20, in the Quarterfinals. After a midday hold to allow the tide to readjust, Parkinson was unable to find a rhythm against Medina in the Semifinals and would have to settle for Equal 3rd at the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.
“Conditions were just terrible then,” Parkinson said. ‘This one rip went through and kind of messed it for a while and that was it. When we watched it earlier, there were barrels out there, it was kind of like before, but it seemed as soon as the tide started pushing it just turned bad. It’s a bummer, but that happens sometimes and you just have to roll with it. An Equal 3rd is good. I’m really enjoying myself. If you had told me six weeks ago that between Trestles and now, I’d have two second places and a third, I would have probably taken it instead of a 9th and all that so bring on Santa Cruz.”
Parkinson’s Equal 3rd in Peniche further solidifies his frontrunner status on the ASP WCT rankings.
Highlights from the Rip Curl Pro Portugal will be available via http://live.ripcurl.com
The next stop on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour will be the O’Neill Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz, California from November 1 – 11, 2012.
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com
RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.26
2 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.37
RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.80 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 5.27
SF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 19.27 vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 5.90
RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.60 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.67
QF 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.07 def. John John Florence (HAW) 11.23
QF 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.13 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 14.34
QF 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.57 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 9.80
RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 5 RESULT:
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 7.34 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 3.34
ASP WCT TOP 5 (After Rip Curl Pro Portugal):
1. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 52,700 pts
2. Kelly Slater (USA) 47,200 pts
3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 47,000 pts
4. John John Florence (HAW) 44,350 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 37,650 pts
Comments
Category: All ASP News, ASP World Tour News
Funny, Brazilians go nuts because of scoring gaff.
Like a bunch of animals, and they won’t listen to anything anyone says, how loser-ish.
I never seen them do this when Slater’s gotten burned before.
And I sure dont remember a lot of Americans flooding the message boards with whining comments. I mean, MAN, all you Brazilians just disgust me.
Hey Brazilians, this aint soccer, calm down.
Show some respect, judging is hard.
And it doesnt matter anyhow, Medina doesn’t have a shot at the title this year.
Judging is difficult and can be a little bit off, but that was way off to be considered a mistake. 8.4 for julian’s last wave was way off the wall.
So the Brazilian community and Brazilian surfers continue to cry about spilled milk. I didn’t see the Americans ranting and raving about Kelly losing to Mick in the final at Bell’s this year…but oh, yeah, I forgot. The Brazilians are a bunch of whiny babies who can claim all the waves they want, but watch them lose, and we can see a real clear example of poor sportsmanship and unprofessionalism.
Congratulations, Julian. You are nowhere near my favorite surfer, but you got the win over a cry-baby Brazilian who proved himself to be a whimpering child amongst working adults.
That is because you guys have no heart or passion. And that is why you girlfriends like us brazilians.
mick fanning was on another level than slater at bells,,at bells you have to get the set waves and surf them to the sand with power and speed,,slaters wave was a crap closeout did 1 air and his other wave was no where near as fast and on rail like fannings,,slater gets overscored alot your wrong,,and the scoring system has to change leave the official scores after the heat is over after more annalysis of each wave.
We have heart and passion. We just don’t wear it on our sleeves like a bunch of sixteen year olds. And every time they describe one of these Brazilian surfers as “passionate,” I cringe.
As for our girlfriends “liking” you Brazilians, most Americans women prefer men who can carry a decent conversation in ENGLISH.
Really intellectual, soul-moving conversation indeed (I don’t think).
I would like to see Julian go high like medina does all the time
well said ivan, i’d be willing to bet that alex lives in a shack made of gabriel medinas broken boards with a shrine made for gabby. and probably has never seen an american woman in real life. its ok the brazilian woman are hot too, it just sucks for him most are working the street corners. have fun with all the men in your shanty-town alexandra.
julian won the heat will brazil shut up already? every brazilian claims every wave, its almost like there trying to make the judges score them higher. i wish i didnt have to see another claim for anything less than a 10. gabby girl cried when he lost this final, mnaybe all of brazil is crying. you wont see a world title for years, maybe ever, sorry.
For sure you are a “Tank”
Tank of rubbish…
I am Peniche local surfer.i was at supertubos final day watching and cheering for Gabreil. I thought Julian got the score maybe not 8.43 but easy 7.5 to win. This wave is barrel and deep heavy barrel on bigger wave more score than air on smaller less power wave. when i home and watch on internet i see why Medina fan think he win but at beach i see why Julian win. he took wave latter and behind peak and wave bigger and more heavy. that the same for judges to see. Madina shound not cry he an he dad show bad sport. he is best surfer atPeniche but not in final because he lose prority and lose and also cry. Kelly also very bad sport after lose. Pete you coment above you no sh*t about our waves here. you ask the pros about our wave before you talk sh*t.
Hi Marco. Good to here an unbiased report from someone who was actually at the beach. I must admit I had the same experience at Hossegor a few years back. Kelly scored a 10 with the best surfing I’ve ever seen on a really powerful wave.
I saw it on the internet and I’d have given it a 7 max. The camera does lie. Before I read your report I was convinced Medina had been burned. Now I’m not sure. Cheers mate.
Great comment mate, I hope those Brazzo cry babies get to read it.
Hi Marco,
Yeah I had a mate on the beach and he said it looked very different straight on – Yes Julian’s waves were grunty and bit ugly but he was amazed that he punched out of them.
Come on ASP, do you really believe placing a video of Medina ripping apart Lower’s is the best strategy to make up for all the bad press you had since the awful decision made by your judging panel in Portugal ? YOU must be kidding me. What this post on Facebook shows to the entire world is how badly managed your entity really is – pure lack of touch and common sense. If you want to be taken seriously as an organisation and take surfing to the next level – a mass sport? (looks like this your vision moving forward,) accountability must be implemented and reinforced somehow in your corporate structure. In this day and age of social networking and pervasive online webcasting, this rotten and fake system which has been built to benefit a few ‘chosen’ will crumble – like it or not. So it’s time to listen to the voices of thousands of unhappy ‘customers’ and start implementing REAL changes on the way you run your ‘business model’ – otherwise as a organisation you won’t last much longer. Aloha and peace to all,
cry me a river Beazilian muppetts!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please ASP give an explanation about the final Julian Wilson vs Gabriel Medina. Medina’s waves were better Julian Wilson 100 % sure everbody agree. EXPLANATION ASP
Why do that ASP? You make me feel so bad! I’m very disappointed with this judgment! I don’t want to see the tour from now on. You should apologize for that!
ASP fingindo não ter acontecido nada, isso é vergonhoso!
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ASP pretending not to have anything going on, it is shameful!
Well one thing is for sure. A lot of unhappy surfers from all corners of the earth. ASP could not get it right last year in brazil and everyone complained, bells this year was a tight final and you had fans on both sides of the fence comparing scores, and now this.
One thing is for sure. Rip Curl / Billabong Quiksilver are getting bad wraps from the younger generation, and a bit of a anti movement against them. This does not help Rip Curls business on a competition that’s gone viral in complaints on online surf forums.
Now with the current format of judging and competition format, things will not change and we will be sitting here again in 6 months time seeing the same old crap happening with fans complaining and cursing the ASP and Sponsors.
I think everyone would agree, man on man matches are great to watch, and even the 3 man heats are great to see with the pros pushing the limits to the extra chance of progressing when losing.
The only thing I see wrong, is the Sponsors like RIP Curl and the likes having these competitions in beach break areas with not consistent waves. Just look what happened to Kelly who could not buy a wave in he’s heat along with half the other pros in this comp in the early rounds… That’s not showing you the best of a surfers ability, more like playing lotto.
Now these sponsors like RIP CURL are more interested in having competitions in front of fans live and in new places to sell more $2.00 T-Shirts and turning then into gold. I don’t mind paying for good Quality surf wear, but seeing them have comps in crap lotto playing waves, tends to make me mad thinking they care more about opening up surfing to a new customer base in selling T-Sirts than promoting pros and seeing the best surfers on this planet surfing amazing waves at the best of their ability.
If these Sponsors had less say on we’re a completion is, and the ASP having more say, bring on G-Land and the likes of classic waves which really show the best surfing in a heats. Not these close outs and floater waves with a inconsistency of waves in some heats. It’s not hard to see who gets the better waves or barrel or even a air on a point break style wave.
France / Brazil / Portugal / have to go………..
ASP needs to act like a professional business and get tough. They need to put a highly skilled business person in charge who has a background in Managing and Directing of multi national companies with the experience of Media.
Surf companies like RIP CURL have to much say in a governering body like the ASP, call it mates or something, but look at the disaster the ASP is now facing with the fans of surfing. Talk about a ticking time bomb.
Bring on power waves and power surfing and better TV coverage that the ASP control, not Rip Curl with there pick of average commentators with no TV skill or public relations skills. Imagine watching or just hearing these guys call the football. They remind me of the commentators from Dodge Ball the Movie….
ASP please bring yourselves 10 years in advance, not 10 years in the pass compared to all the other major sports with there governering bodies and professionalism.
You also need to look at Judges and their own skill of their surfing…. None of these judges are ex pro surfers ?
Bring on Kelly as Head of Surfing…. Hurry up and retire Kelly and Save us all…………