CONGRATULATIONS KELLY SLATER, THE VOLCOM FIJI PRO CHAMPION! 11/06/2012
Photo: Brian Bielmann
Congratulations Kelly Slater, The Volcom Fiji Pro champion!
The final day of competition was a supercharged morning of excellent
Cloudbreak surfing and Kelly Slater has emerged the champion of the inaugural Volcom Fiji
Pro. Slater surfed a blitzing final against Brazil’s Gabriel Medina scoring 18.16 points with
only two waves ridden in the 35-minute battle.
Photo: Brian Bielmann
Earlier in the day, CJ Hobgood had one of the more memorable rides of the day
with an unbelievable barrel in the dying minutes of his quarterfinal heat against Brazil’s
Adriano De Souza.
“It was a blessing that wave came and it did,” Hobgood said. “I knew Adriano (de
Souza) was going to post huge scores and he did. That wave came and I just put my head
down. That feeling when they read out the score, it just feels good.”
Hobgood met a different fate in the semis where the 11-time world champ beat
him out for a spot in the final showdown.
Photo: Brian Bielmann
The final was on and Slater put on a Cloudbreak clinic against Brazil’s Gabriel
Medina. Gabriel had impressed the world with his amazing charge to the final but in the
end was no match for Kelly's near-perfect performance.
“That’s probably the best I could surf out here,” Slater said. “The barrel and the
turn sections just lined up for me and I was able to do what I did. That was a perfect
canvas for me.”
Photo: Brian Bielmann
With this win, Slater moves up to 2nd in the ASP World title ratings behind new
ratings leader, Mick Fanning.
