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Michel Bourez, claiming victory at the Billabong Rio Pro. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Kelly Slater of Florida, USA, placed equal third at the Billabong Rio Pro when he was eliminated by Kolohe Andino in the Semifinals. After posting the first perfect 10 of the event in Round 5 eliminating the last Brazilian in the event, Adriano De Souza, Slater met his match in Andino who took to the air to defeat the 11-time ASP World Champion. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Sally Fitzgibbons of Gerroa, NSW, Australia, has won the Billabong Rio Pro defeating World No. 1 Carissa Moore in the final on Monday. Fitzgibbons posted a near-perfect 9.27 score to defeat Moore. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Kolohe Andino of San Clemente, California, USA, posted his career-best result reaching the Final of the Billabong Rio Pro where he finished runner-up behind winner Michel Bourez. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Sally Fitzgibbons of Gerroa, NSW, Australia, has won the Billabong Rio Pro defeating World No. 1 Carissa Moore in the final. Fitzgibbons posted a near-perfect 9.27 score to defeat Moore. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Michel Bourez of Tahiti has won the Billabong Rio Pro defeating Kolohe Andino (USA) in the final by 13.84 to 10.93. Bourez's victory today marks his second victory on the ASP World Tour this season after he clinched the victory at the Drug Aware Pro in Margaret River. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Carissa Moore of Oahu, Hawaii, placed runner-up at the Billabong Rio Pro when she was defeated by Sally Fitzgibbons. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Jordy Smith of Durban, South Africa, earned his second heat win of the day advancing through Round 4 in first place to secure his spot into the Quarterfinals. After a definitive Round 3 victory, Smith had luck on his side during Round 4 when he managed to advance off two mediocre scores when his opponents Joel Parkinson and Sebastian Zietz failed to find sufficient backup scores. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Nat Young of Santa Cruz, California, USA, advanced into the Quarterfinals of the Billabong Rio Pro winning his round 4 heat with a deep 8.17 barrel ride. Young defeated Adriano De Souza (BRA) and Travis Logie (ZAF). Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Taj Burrow of Yallinup, Western Australia, placed equal third at the Billabong Rio Pro reaching the Semifinals where he was eliminated by Michel Bourez. Despite an early lead, Burrow was defeated in the final minutes when Bourez completed an impressive 8.70-point aerial maneuver that ended Burrow's hopes of a victory in Rio. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Taj Burrow of Yallinup, Western Australia, battled both his opponents to win his Round 4 heat advancing into the Quarterfinals. As conditions deteriorated in the final heat of the day, Burrow narrowly edged out opponents Josh Kerr (AUS) and Michel Bourez (PYF) in a low-scoring affair. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Adriano De Souza of Brazil is the last remaining Brazilian surfer in this year's Billabong Rio Pro advancing into Round 5. De Souza defeated Aritz Aranburu (ESP) in Round 3 before placing second behind heat winner Nat Young (USA) in Round 4. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Kelly Slater of Florida, USA, kept his Billabong Rio Pro title hopes alive winning his Round 3 heat over wildcard David do Carmo (BRA) before placing third in Round 4. Slater will surf again in Round 5. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
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Bede Durbidge of Currumbin, Australia, reveled in the powerful beachbreak conditions, winning two rounds of competition to advance into the Quarterfinals. Durbidge posted a near-perfect 9.10 for a deep backhand barrel and cemented his win over Kolohe Andino (USA) and Kelly Slater (USA) with a solid 6.10 score. Photo: ASP | Smorigo
We sort of knew what we were getting before it all went down. An iffy beach break was bound to produce something, but what? No one could be completely sure. The resulting conditions left something(s) to be desired, but the world’s best, as they often do, made the mediocre conditions look at least halfway fun.
Those who came out on top were Michel Bourez and Sally Fitzgibbons in fantastic fashion. In possibly the surprise of the event, Kolohe Andino fought til the bitter end and took out Kelly Slater on his way out the door, where the Spartan to clashed with Taj Burrow and ultimately slayed both Burrow and Andino on his way to another 2014 World Tour win – his second after Margaret River. This win puts him at fourth overall for the year.
Sally Fitzgibbons bested the world champion powerhouse Carissa Moore who got off to an intimidatingly quick start blasting three huge turns for an excellent 8.50. Sally Fitz countered with a 9.27 to put Moore on the ropes and the back and forth continued until Moore couldn’t respond with a big enough score.
As the event wrapped, the two deserving yet underdog competitors edged out their respective wins. For Bourez, the men’s tour now heads to Fiji then J-Bay and Teahupoo – three locales which favor his style of power surfing. For Fitzgibbons, she’s headed to Fiji, Huntington then Trestles – two of the three are new to the women’s tour so it’s anyone’s game.
For more coverage of the Billabong Rio Pro, head to aspworldtour.com.
