So. As you know Mick Fanning stole a march on his fourth world title yesterday in Portugal. With Gabriel Medina throwing his toys out the pram and Slater’s uncharacteristic loss to Aritz it’s all to play for coming in to Pipeline. The scenarios below lay out who needs what. It is, in essence, Medina’s to lose. If he bungles it in the early rounds then it becomes a duel between Fanning and Slater. History would favour Slater in such a scenario. But Medina is no North Shore slouch. Even with limited experience at Pipe he has already made the quarters there. It’s going to be a fascinating tussle. Assuming the locals let the ASP run the event with the only two local wildcards…
If Medina finishes 2nd or better at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, he will clinch the 2014 ASP World Title.
If Medina finishes 3rd at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, Fanning will need to win the event and Slater will be out of contention.
If Medina finishes 5th at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, Fanning will need to win the event and Slater will be out of contention.
If Medina finishes 9th at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, Fanning will need to finish 2nd or better and Slater will be out of contention.
If Medina finishes 13th or 25th at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, Fanning will need to finish 3rd to win or 5th to send the title race into a one-heat “surf-off” between himself and Medina.
If Medina finishes 13th or 25th at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, Slater will need to win the event.
Ben Skinner crowned King of the Longboard an ASP Europe sanctioned specialty event defeating a strong international field of riders in long peeling 2ft waves in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Skinner finished the event with a total event score of 32.35 out of 40 to demonstrate his dominance of both performance and classic longboarding.
A newly designed format by Cantabrian Surfing Federation Technical Director, Pedro Gutierrez, saw a combination of both performance and classic longboard styles displayed over two days with a total of 4 waves tallied to crown the overall winner.
Skinner lead the race coming into the final day of competition which saw unfold classic longboarding at its finest. A full array of manoeuvres were laid down on the clean walls of Somo including hang-tens, drop-knee turns and some amazing foot work to impress both judges and spectators.
With a handful of strong scoring rides Skinner finished off with an 8-point plus ride to seal the deal and become the inaugural King of the Longboard.
“I’m pretty stoked!!! It is such a nice thing to be able to surf both disciplines of our sport,” began Skinner. “I think it is really important we embrace both and this is a perfect example of that and it was just brilliant. I loved it. Thanks everyone involved and thanks Somo and the ASP.”
King of the Longboard Overall Results
1st Ben Skinner (GBR) 32.35 points
2nd Aurelien Meynieux (REU) 22.65 points
3rd Alberto Fernandez (ESP) 21.6 points
Todays sick free surf highlights from our friends at Surf Portugal featuring Kelly Slater’s mental air 540/720, Gabriel Medina, Kolohe Andino and more. Some crazy barrels, one mad wipeout and a couple of airs that on any other day would be outstanding.
