Rebecca Woods and Stephanie Gilmore prevail in Round 1 heats at Roxy Pro 2012
Australia’s Rebecca Woods and her fellow countryperson Stephanie Gilmore claimed top honours in their respective Round 1 heats at Roxy Pro 2012, the latest stop on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour, which continued at the
Cote des Basques in Biarritz, France, on Friday, July 13.
Woods got the better of Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons and France’s Joanne Defay in the third heat of Round 1 to jump straight into Round 3, forcing her rivals to take a trip to the second round as a result.
The fourth heat featured an impressive performance by Gilmore as she prevailed over New Zealand’s Paige Hareb and Brazil’s Jacqueline Silva to advance through into the third round while relegating her two competitors to Round 2.
The opening day of the competition saw three-to-five foot waves breaking at the primary event site, creating expectations of a day full of enthralling contests and exquisite performances as the elite female surfers battled it out for the Round 3 spot.
Pitted against the likes of Fitzgibbons, current No.2 on the ASP Women’s World Tour rankings, and local talent Defay in the third heat, Woods was clearly the underdog. However, she stepped up to meet the challenge head on. Managing to find a couple of relatively
juicy waves to post a couple of scores in the five-point range on the score-board, she finished with a heat-total of 11.30 points that allowed her to walk away with the win.
Fitzgibbons apparently struggled to find her rhythm and only got her hands on a 4.00 and 6.00-point ride, thus having to settle for a second-place finish with a resultant heat-total of 10.00 points.
Defay seemed quite perplexed during the course of the battle and in the end sat at a heat-total of 6.60 points, which comprised of a 4.50 and 2.10-point ride.
The fourth heat featured Gilmore, former four-time ASP Women’s World Champion and current frontrunner this season, as she took down Hareb and Silva. The 24-year-old Australian rode plenty of waves and produced her best scores of 6.50 and 6.70 to finish with
a heat-total of 13.20 points. The score carried her to a comfortable win, sending her through into the third round as a result.
Hareb collected a couple of scores in the five-point range to finish with a heat-total of 10.80 points, thus having to settle for second place, whereas a lacklustre performance by Silva caused her to finish with a heat-total of 7.75 points.
The exciting surfing action continued at Cote des Basques with the remaining Round 1 heats of Roxy Pro 2012.
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