WILDCARD KNOCKS OUT WORLD CHAMP
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“I'm pretty nervous,” said Stephanie Gilmore before her heat with World Champ Sofia Mulanovich. “She is such a great surfer and the waves are looking pretty fun. I surf here everyday, I'm basically a local out here and this is the best wave in the world. I sort of have the local knowledge happening so I'm really excited to get out there. I am feeling quite confident. I'll see what happens.”

Well local knowledge paid off today at Snapper Rocks. The biggest upset of the day happened in heat four when World Champion Sofia Mulanovich met wildcard local Stephanie Gilmore in the water for round 3 of the Roxy Pro. Eyes were glued to the line-up as these two went head-to-head. Expectations for the win were falling on the World Champ, but Stephanie was on fire; it was just another day for the Cooly kid. Stephanie opened the show with her first wave scoring a solid 9.5. Her fans were going wild. By Stephanie's 5th wave she had comboed Sofia's score. With only a minute and a half left, a perfect 10 wouldn't have even done the trick. Sofia would need two waves just to try and win the heat.

As the two came out of the water, each their separate ways, media and fans flocked towards them; autographs were signed, camera flashed and the press stood by waiting for a quote. As I sat on the Competitors Stage I wondered what it would be like to be Stephanie Gilmore in the midst of all the hype. It must have been like a dream to good to be true. My eyes crossed over to Sofia as I thought how disappointed she must have felt, wishing she could wake up from this nightmare, a nightmare that must have played over and over again in her head the night before. I wondered what it must have felt like for Sofia to utter those words, “I have just been beat by Wildcard Stephanie Gilmore.” The nice thing about coming out of the surf after a bad heat, is that the water kind of covers up the tears.

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The crowds and media converge on Snapper Rocks this time a year for a reason—to watch the best surfers in the world hack the heck out of one of the longest waves on tour. Three Aussie chicks were rewarded handsomely for doing just that today. Layne Beachley scored a near perfect 9.93 in the round opener, and ended rookie Bec Woods’ hopes of advancing into the quarter-finals of her first WCT tournament in the process. Chelsea Georgeson scored the contest’s first perfect 10 in the last heat of the day. And somewhere in the middle, Junior Champion and wildcard Stephanie Gilmore, decided to open her assault on World Champ Sofia Mulanovich with a 9.5—Mulanovich never answered back and was left questioning what could have possibly gone so wrong in her first title defending event.

Other Aussies who had what it took to get through were WA’s Mel Redman-Carr and Samantha Cornish. Hawaiians Megan Abubo and Rochelle Ballard will also advance, though their fellow islander Melanie Bartels will not. Luckily for defending Roxy title holder Jaqueline Silva, Bartels chose not to unleash her aerial antics on a perfect wall after missing the tube she’d set up for—the potentially high scoring wave could’ve taken the Brazilian out of the game.

The quarter-finals of the Roxy Pro will resume when conditions allow.

ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat # 1
1 Layne Beachley
2 Rebecca Woods

Heat # 2
1 Jacqueline Silva
2 Melanie Bartels

Heat # 3
1 Samantha Cornish
2 Trudy Todd

Heat # 4
1 Stephanie Gilmore
2 Sofia Mulanovich

Heat # 5
1 Rochelle Ballard
2 Serena Brooke

Heat # 6
1 Megan Abubo
2 Heather Clark

Heat # 7
1 Melanie Redman-Carr
2 Laurina McGrath

Heat # 8
1 Chelsea Georgeson
2 Claire Bevilacqua

UPCOMING QUARTERFINAL HEATS:

Quarter-final # 1
Layne Beachley
Jacqueline Silva

Quarter-final # 2
Samantha Cornish vs.
Stephanie Gilmore

Quarter-final # 3
Rochelle Ballard vs.
Megan Abubo

Quarter-final # 4
Melanie Redman-Carr vs.
Chelsea Georgeson