click here<\/strong><\/a> to watch round 2 eliminations live.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
BANZAI PIPELINE, Oahu\/Hawaii (Thursday, December 10, 2015) – The final stop of the Samsung Galaxy WSL Men\u2019s Championship Tour and Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, the Billabong Pipe Masters In Memory of Andy Irons, completed the opening round of competition today in shifting eight-to-ten foot Banzai Pipeline conditions.<\/p>\n
With strong winds consistent throughout the day and a predominant North swell on offer, Round 1 had moments of brilliance amidst unruly rip currents sweeping the lineup as the world\u2019s best tackled the world\u2019s most notorious wave.<\/p>\n
C.J. Hobgood (USA), who announced 2015 would be his retirement season earlier in the year, enters the final event of his pro career here at Pipeline, and the Floridian came out swinging in Heat 9 alongside Taj Burrow (AUS) and 11-time WSL Champion Kelly Slater (USA). Hobgood began his 2015 Pipeline campaign with a Perfect 10, finding a near-impossible exit that had the crowd on their feet en route to earning the highest heat total of 14.97.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the heat started I told Kelly it\u2019s been a privilege to grow up in the generation I did – I\u2019ve been surfing against the best surfer my entire life and I know when I\u2019m old I\u2019ll appreciate that,\u201d Hobgood said. \u201cTaj thought he sold me on a crappy wave and Kelly was thinking it didn\u2019t even look that good – and it didn\u2019t look that great to me either, I swear it was just a God thing. Even at the end I just thought it was going to knock me off but it just stayed solid the whole time. It was just an out of body experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following Owen Wright\u2019s (AUS) withdrawal from competition earlier this morning, the 2015 World Title is now down to five contenders here at Pipeline. Leading the charge is Mick Fanning (AUS) who weathered the storm of 2001 Pipe Master Bruce Irons (HAW) and Sebastian Zietz (HAW) with a 9.43 that earned the Jeep Rankings\u2019 Leader a Round 1 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty nervous coming up against Bruce and Seabass, they\u2019re some of the best surfers in the world – especially here at Pipeline and I just love both of them,\u201d Fanning said. \u201cWe started off so quick and the nerves didn\u2019t really set in once we were in the water but I was stoked to get two quick ones. The next twenty minutes was pretty nerve-racking just because Bruce is capable of anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really sad,\u201d Fanning added. \u201cThat\u2019s two years in a row for Owen after hurting his shoulder last year. We surfed together, we talked, then the boys took him for food and he just said he wasn\u2019t right. I\u2019m just hoping he\u2019s doing well and from what we hear he\u2019s doing okay so we\u2019re happy for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also earning a Round 3 berth with a victory over Keanu Asing (HAW) and Wade Carmichael (BRA) in Round 1, current World No.4 Gabriel Medina (BRA) increased his odds to earn back-to-back World Titles. Medina looked in-form and poses a serious threat to the Title race with a carefree approach knowing his chances are narrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was actually really hard to find the good ones and the wind is pretty tricky toward the middle of the heat so I thought the waves were going to get worse,\u201d Medina said. \u201cBut I feel fine getting that 7 which was pretty good and I\u2019m stoked to get through. I\u2019m in a different position than last year but I\u2019ve got some good boards and not worried about the guys fighting for the Title or the Title – I just want to do well and if it happens it will happen. I don\u2019t want to put pressure on myself, just go out and surf.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Fanning and Medina are safely through to Round 3, World No.2 Filipe Toledo (BRA), No.3 Adriano De Souza (BRA) and No.7 Julian Wilson (AUS) all face elimination in Round 2 against formidable opponents. De Souza will face the Pipe Invitational Winner Jack Robinson (AUS) in Heat 3 and Wilson has to battle current Vans Triple Crown of Surfing ratings leader Wade Carmichael (AUS) in Heat 5.<\/p>\n
Up first, Toledo will be pitted against former Pipe Master Bruce Irons (HAW) in Heat 1, Round 2 when competition commences.<\/p>\n
Organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7:00am to reassess conditions.<\/p>\n
Surfline, Official Forecasters for the World Surf League, are calling for:<\/p>\n
Solid surf continues on Thursday as the current WNW swell trends more to the NW and strong E trades prevail. The surf fades through Friday as trades also ease. Small NW swell prevails over the weekend, with much lighter wind. Confidence is increasing that a strong NW swell will build in through the middle part of next week as trades also rebuild.<\/p>\n
The Billabong Pipe Masters will be webcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com and on the WSL app.<\/p>\n
The world’s best surfing will also be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports in Australia, MCS Extreme in France, EDGE Sports in China, South Korea, Malaysia and other territories and on Globo TV in Brazil.<\/p>\n
BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 1 RESULTS:
\nHeat 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.26, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 9.33, Glenn Hall (IRL) 1.70
\nHeat 2: Mason Ho (HAW) 6.17, Jadson Andre (BRA) 5.70, Dusty Payne (HAW) 1.70
\nHeat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.60, Keanu Asing (HAW) 7.84, Wade Carmichael (AUS) 3.73
\nHeat 4: Michel Bourez (PYF) 9.33, Adriano De Souza (BRA) 7.23, Jack Robinson (AUS) 5.06
\nHeat 5: Jamie O\u2019Brien (HAW) 8.06, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 7.84, Kolohe Andino (USA) 6.50
\nHeat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.60, Bruce Irons (HAW) 14.33, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 4.37
\nHeat 7: Kai Otton (AUS) 12.40, Julian Wilson (AUS) 3.84, Ricardo Christie (NZL) 3.10
\nHeat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.27, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 7.17, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 3.94
\nHeat 9: CJ Hobgood (USA) 14.97, Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.26, Kelly Slater (USA) 9.80
\nHeat 10: John John Florence (HAW) 13.33, Nat Young (USA) 6.67, Brett Simpson (USA) 1.50
\nHeat 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 2.84, Adam Melling (AUS) 1.14, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 1.10
\nHeat 12: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.06, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.17, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 3.44<\/p>\n
UPCOMING BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
\nHeat 1: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Bruce Irons (HAW)
\nHeat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
\nHeat 3: Adriano De Souza (BRA) vs. Jack Robinson (AUS)
\nHeat 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
\nHeat 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Wade Carmichael (AUS)
\nHeat 6: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
\nHeat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
\nHeat 8: Jadson Andre (BRA) vs. Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
\nHeat 9: Nat Young (USA) vs. Glenn Hall (IRL)
\nHeat 10: Keanu Asing (HAW) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
\nHeat 11: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Ricardo Christie (NZL)
\nHeat 12: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whenever someone\u00a0proclaims, “You Can’t Script This,” as a certain action sporting content creation company recently did regarding the 2015 world title race, our first thought is always, “Wait, they’re going to script this.” While judging can occasionally be scripted, The Pipeline, itself follows never follows anyone\u00a0else’s script, ever. And, yesterday\u00a0(December 10, 2015) The Pipeline flipped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49341"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49341"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49347,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49341\/revisions\/49347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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