Smith rumbles in Rio
THE Brazilian Billabong Pro has busted the world title race wide open, with South Africa's Jordy Smith claiming his first win of the year.
The Durban wunderkind stopped any chance of a local win, out-muscling and out-foxing the Brazilian favourite Adriano de Souza in front of thousands of passionate spectators on the beach breaks of Barra da Tijuca.
At the same time in J-Bay, South Africa, the world-class point break was pumping and fans on the ASP website were writing off the Rio beach break venue as a commercial promotion for the shaky surf industry giant.
Yet Smith put all that aside to be the big winner and brought his aerial A-game to blow away the Brazilian air punters, including their latest whiz kid, Felipe Toledo, in the quarter-finals.
Holding a $100,000 cheque, Smith was happy to find his form again and register his first win since 2011 at Jeffrey's Bay against Mick Fanning.
"This win feels unbelievable," Smith said. "It's another dream come true.
"I knew I could win another World Tour event, but I had to prove to myself that I could do it away from South Africa."
Ironically, the J-Bay event has been downgraded to a WQS, although one would think that ASP needs to put it back on the World Tour in terms of a world-class surfing destination.
De Souza has jumped to the lead of the world ratings, with Smith in second and Fanning in third.
Kelly Slater has been relegated to fourth and Joel Parkinson is sitting in eighth after an early exit.
Parkinson has now suffered two bad results and can't afford to lose again if he is to defend his world title.
The next three events at Fiji, Bali and Tahiti will be crucial to the world title race, especially for Slater. .
Results:
- Adriano de Souza (BRA) 18,500 pts
- Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18,250 pts
- Mick Fanning (AUS) 18,200 pts
- Kelly Slater (USA) 16,950 pts
- Taj Burrow (AUS) 15,700 pts
