A damaged knee and a deep cut to his heel forced Jordy Smith to withdraw from the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro. He was due to face Jeremy Flores (FRA) in Round 3 today.
The injury occurred while Jordy was freesurfing yesterday. Having won his Round 1 heat thus skipping Round 2, he had the day off to prepare for his upcoming Round 3 match-up.
“I tried to make a late drop and ended up hitting the reef really hard,” said Jordy to Todd Kline on this morning’s webcast; explaining his decision to withdraw.
At first, Jordy was more concerned about the deep gash on his heel that required stitching, but his tweaked knee started to seize-up as the day wore on.
“Sure enough, this morning I woke up and it [his knee] was really stiff,” Jordy explained.
Adam Melling got blasted during his Round 3 heat.
As was the case in both the first and second Round, The Box was dishing out equal servings of square tubes and brutal wipeouts for Round 3. Adam Melling (AUS) took a pounding that could have ended his event. How he escaped injury after taking the full force of a thick lip to the chest is hard to believe. Thankfully, he popped right back up after getting axed and paddled out to contest the rest of the heat. If they awarded points for bravery, Adam would’ve scored a Perfect 10. Unfortunately he couldn’t find the score he needed to beat John John Florence (HAW), who had put together an impressive 15.20 heat total to advance to Round 4.
After rankings leader Filipe Toledo’s loss in Round 2, the upsets continued in Round 3. Joel Parkinson (AUS) lost to Sebastian Ziets (HAW) in Heat 4, while Mick Fanning (AUS) was defeated by wildcard, Jay Davies (AUS), in Heat 6. Sitting in second spot with just over three minutes left in the heat, Jay caught a bomb and knifed his way into a huge barrel. After negotiating some tricky steps in the face, he came flying out the other side to earn a 9.50 from the judges. It was more than enough to advance to Round 4.
Major upset: Jay Davies eliminated Mick Fanning with this crazy tube.
Tahiti’s Michel Bourez, Nat Young (USA), Adriano De Souza (BRA) and Julian Wilson (AUS) were the other heat winners at The Box in Round 3, before organisers moved the rest of the Round to Margaret River’s main peak.
And the surfer of the day award goes to: Kelly Slater, who rode a huge barrel at the main peak to earn a Perfect 10. The 11-time world champ had already asserted his dominance on the heat with an earlier 9.50 score, smashing together an incredible 19.50 heat total. Kelly moves swiftly along to Round 4, as do Taj Burrow (AUS), Josh Kerr (AUS), and Owen Wright (AUS), who were the other heat winners at the main peak.
Who said Margaret River’s main peak was boring to watch? Check this out:
Because he can; Kelly Slater man-handled main peak.
Round 1 of the Women’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro got underway in challenging conditions following that, with Australians Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright handling the powerful surf the best. Sally dominated Heat 2 to win with a 16.60 heat total, while Tyler top-scored in Round 1 with a 16.74 heat total – including a 9.05 and a 7.67.
Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) faced reigning world champ, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), and Sage Erickson (USA) in Heat 4. In tough conditions, Steph only managed to catch one scoring ride in the thirty minute heat, but it was a solid 8.00 and enough to see her through to Round 3. Bianca only managed a 7.00 heat total after opening with a promising 6.00, and will be looking forward to a stronger performance in Round 2 against Nikki Van Dijk (AUS).
Lakey Peterson (USA), Carissa Moore (HAW) and Courtney Conlogue (USA) were the other heat winners in Round 1, ending a full day of competition in Western Australia.
Tyler Wright was shredding Margies’ main peak.
Go to worldsurfleague.com for heat reviews, highlights and results from the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro.
Jordz…… enough of these kinky dance moves with your vrou!!!
Just win the title and then you can lay into her properly.
Horse before the cart kinda thing.