Five times ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore from Tweed Heads, won the 2014 Roxy Pro Gold Coast, defeating Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) in the final at Snapper Rocks today.
Gilmore earns 10,000 points towards her 2014 Samsung Galaxy ASP World Tour ratings and banks US$60,000 in prize money.
Just hours earlier, Gilmore took on fellow ASP champion Carissa Moore, from Hawaii, forcing her into third place.
ASP reported that Gilmore ‘wasted little time in reasserting herself as queen of Snapper Rocks, selecting the very best waves and blending full-rail manoeuvres with variety to the tune of 17.10 points’ in her semi-final.
‘Moore, despite possessing arguably the most diverse bag of tricks on tour, struggled to find comparable waves and will take home an equal third place finish to start the year off,’ ASP said.
In the second semi-final Buitendag defeated US surfer Lakey Peterson 15.90 to 12.50, lining her up for a head-to-head with Gilmore.
It was the first career final for the young South African and Gilmore was clearly too good for her, taking out the match-up by more than five points (15.80 to 10.47).
ASP said of the final, ‘The local favourite would build momentum throughout the affair, belting an 8.80 and 6.33 on back-to-back rides, leaving Buitendag in need of a combination of scores.’
In the semi-finals of the Quiksilver Pro Taj Burrow was narrowly defeated by Brazilian Gabriel Medina (14.13 to 14.10) while Joel Parkinson got the better of Medina’s countryman Adriano de Souza (18.70 to 9.67).
Upsets in the quarter finals saw de Souza on 16.53, thrash Kelly Slater on 12.17, while Medina defeated Mick Fanning on a more respectable score of 15.83 to 14.00.
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