PRESS/MEDIA RELEASE


Huntington Beach Association of Surfing Professionals

ASP Women's Tour  WORLD CHAMP MULANOVICH KNOCKED OUT AT TRIALS by WINNER GILMORE

THE season is just three days old, but the ASP Women's Tour has already been thrown wide open with Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) eliminating newly crowned World Champion Sofia Mulanovich (Peru) from the Roxy Pro Presented by Boost Mobile as round three of the event was completed at Snapper Rocks today.

Repeating her trouncing of Mulanovich from yesterday's round one of competition, the young trials winner again looked well capable of going all the way in her first ever WCT event. Matching her undisputed surfing talents with a charming disposition, the ever-smiling Kingscliff High School student also seems destined for the publicity glare as professional surfing's new darling. Personally, and as a surfing athlete, she is well worthy.

Gilmore's smooth forehand demolition of Mulanovich seemed to come almost effortlessly after the 17 year-old began her scoreline with a strong 9.5 opener in the first minutes of the much-anticipated exchange. Gilmore then wisely decided to sit and wait in the inconsistent conditions as Mulanovich paddled around trying to play catch-up, but the Peruvian never got close.

Repeatedly catching rail or falling, and simply lacking Gilmore's flow and inherent consistency, Mulanovich perhaps buckled under the pressure. Slight bump and tidal wobble in many of the prevailing 2-3' (0.5-1m) waves saw the world champ' struggling to find clean wave faces with any wall or length, and manage only a couple of medium-range scores at the halfway stage of the heat.

Gilmore sealed what looked an obvious victory towards heat's end when she nailed a 7.67 into her scoreline, as well as into Mulanovich's early tour hopes.

'You just have to be patient out there,' testified Gilmore, after receiving an ovation from her peers as she returned to the competitors' area after her triumph.

'I was being a lot more patient than I usually am in heats. It's weird, especially at Snapper, because out here you normally want to catch as many waves as possible, but by waiting for the good ones I didn't get a second decent wave until about 7 minutes to go,' she continued.

'I wasn't expecting a 9.5 for that first wave either, and didn't even hear the score, but then later on when I heard it repeated, I was'oh'it's mind boggling. Now I just want to take it to the top, and take the event out. That would be just the ultimate!' grinned Gilmore.

Gilmore's awesome effort and result was supported by extraordinary performances from fellow Aussies Layne Beachley and Chelsea Georgeson. All three left their adversaries in need of two rides to catch up.

After scoring two rides over nine points yesterday, Layne Beachley notched another high nine in the first heat of the day. The former six-times world champion continues to take big strides confirming championship form and contention. Following a little advice, her wave choice today was impeccable.

'When I paddled out first thing before my heat, I asked Occy 'Where's the best ones breaking from'', because he's the man. He said 'They're just wide of the rock', and that's where I got my waves with wall,' revealed Beachley.

Beachley comfortably took out rookie Rebecca Woods (Australia) who was also dealt a few strategic lessons. Ultimately seasoned pros like Beachley border on professors teaching high school students when it comes to tactics. In this sphere, talent takes time to mature.

In the day's final exchange, world ranked number three Chelsea Georgeson produced a perfect 10 point ride in disposing of another rookie in Western Australia's Claire Bevilacqua.

Getting one of the cleaner and more sizeable waves of the afternoon, Georgeson went from a strong outside bottom turn into a good re-entry and then made the most of a bigger and cleaner section and smashed it solidly, busting rail and tail out in the process. She went on into a strong third turn before narrowly surviving a floater and then connecting to the inside and getting some completing moves in. The 10's went up on the scoreboard quite rapidly.

'I was kind of surprised when they said it was a 10 after that floater. I came down pretty wobbly and didn't really make that floater with as much flow as what I should have, but judges sometimes get excited, and I'm not complaining!' smiled Georgeson.

'I was fired up for that heat and felt good,' said Georgeson. 'The waves aren't that great but I looked and waited for the good ones after watching earlier heats. All the way through the day it has seemed like one person was getting all the good ones, and the other person was struggling. I waited and got my share.'

Throughout the day, the judges adhered to the guidelines of the new judging criteria, rewarding flow and variance in repertoire. Trudy Todd could vouch for that fact after she subconsciously resorted to tested tactics and lost to Samantha Cornish (Australia) in the process.

'I didn't realise until my last wave that I'd been doing what I do best ' just snapping down the line, but the judges obviously just didn't like it,' said Trudy after her heat.

'I guess it was because I was under pressure and didn't think. I've worked it out now though - they want more flow and variety. That's why Stephanie Gilmore is going to be so good. It's going to be hard to beat her in this event if it's all about flow, because she has got the best flow and variety of moves,' said Todd.

Also impressive today were the seasoned Hawaiian girls with Rochelle Ballard who grabbed a last minute victory over Serena Brooke by waiting for the bomb of their heat, and Megan Abubo who comfortably took out South Africa's Heather Clark who struggled to find anything with any wall beyond the first section of the waves she selected.

Abubo was all smiles because besides getting in some good moves, and having obvious fun surfing the Superbank with just one other surfer out, she has never previously moved beyond ninth in the Roxy Pro Presented By Boost Mobile.

Young acclaimed Hawaiian Melanie Bartels confused a lot of onlookers in her heat against defending event champion Jacqueline Silva (Brazil). She lined up what looked like a pitching section at one stage that momentarily appeared it might barrel, but then when the wave failed to, Bartels coasted across almost the entire length of the wave that still looked to hold potential.

'I was bummed. I was waiting for a big tsunami and I was going to catch it, but it wasn't there,' said a frustrated Bartels after her loss to Silva. 'I kept paddling and paddling and paddling, and I was lost in the moment. It happens to the best of us ' definitely.'

'If the waves aren't happening I'm over it. I don't want to grovel a crappy two footer ' definitely not. I just want to take one if there's a wall and hit it. I'm not going to go around the section, I'm going to hit it!' concluded Bartels.

Bartels highest score for the heat was a 3.4 while Silva admitted that her 6.33 and 5.17 were low but good enough under the circumstances.

'It was not easy today. Very inconsistent!' said Silva in her broken English. 'I think set waves were not the best waves ' little ones were the best. I was waiting for the best waves but it never came. I hope they're not going to continue to quarters ' hope they stop and wait for better conditions. I am happy to get through and I'm now ready to defend my title.'

Silva got her wish, as officials called a halt to proceedings after the completion of the round as the swell continued to drop, and a forecast north-east wind slowly rose.

Looking ahead to the quarter-finals, Silva faces a determined Layne Beachley and will need to lift her game appreciably to again have a chance of hoisting the Roxy Pro Presented by Boost Mobile trophy. The Hawaiian matchup between Ballard and Abubo is sure to be entertaining, while on current form in this event, Samantha Cornish will be tested against young Gilmore and Melanie Redman-Carr faces a similar task in quelling Georgeson's run.

'I'm stoked for Stephanie,' concluded Georgeson after the event finished this afternoon. 'She's so young, but knows this wave better than anyone. I knew from the start that she was going to go well in this event as soon as she won the trials. I'm more scared of Stephanie than anyone else. She's got nothing to lose either. She's not going for points, but just to win and have fun.'

- Paul Sargeant