The Boost Mobile Margaret River Pro saw the best waves of the Australian leg of the 2021 WSL Tour to date and it was two Brazilians who came out victorious, shaking up their respective CT standings in the process. Let’s take a look at exactly what went down on both sides of the draw.
Boost Mobile Margaret River Pro – Men’s
Huge waves on the opening day of the Margaret River saw plenty of big scores put on the board, none bigger than John John Florence’s 10 in the seeding round. Unsurprisingly given his penchant for big waves, he put his stamp on the event early, putting together scores of 17.5 and 16.04 in his first two heats. Elsewhere, Jeremy Flores and Jack Robinson contested one of the heats of the year to date in the Round of 32, with the Frenchman beating out the local 17-16.5 in a thriller.
The surfing was of an extremely high-quality and made for great viewing, and for the most part the early rounds saw the top chances escape unscathed. In the Round of 16, however, the event got a huge shake-up when runaway yellow jersey holder, Gabriel Medina, was knocked out in a very low-scoring heat by Seth Moniz.
That opened up the door for the chasing pack to significantly close the gap on him in the standings, but unfortunately, the man who looked most likely to do just that, John John Florence, had to withdraw prior to the quarterfinals due to injury. That same round saw countrymen Italo Ferreira and Filipe Toledo go head-to-head, and when Toledo came out victorious it only opened up the race even further.
Few would have picked many of the final four of Jordy Smith, Griffin Colapinto, Filipe Toledo and Matthew McGillivray to be around come semi-final time, but there we were. The first semi was a thriller, with Smith beating out Colapinto 15.33-15.16, while Toledo was too strong in the second heat, winning with two wave scores between 7 and 8.
In the final he took things up another notch, and the big South African couldn’t match it with him. Smith surfed solidly to put together a 14.23 total, but Toledo managed a 9.00 and an 8.4 (to go with an 8.33) to take out his first ever Margaret River Pro, and his first event of the season.
The win virtually nullified Toledo’s slow start to the season, catapulting him up to third place and creating an all-Brazilian top three. Despite all being knocked out (or forced out, in John John’s case) at or prior to the Round of 16, Medina, Ferreira and Florence round out the top four, but the queue knocking at the door behind them has got significantly closer. Smith is now just a couple of hundred points behind Florence in fifth, while Colapinto and Kanoa Igarashi aren’t far behind. Medina is still fairly comfortably out on top with Ferreira having a solid hold on second, but heading to Rottnest Island, the gap is closing.
Boost Mobile Margaret River Pro – Women’s
The women’s side of the event also got to enjoy world-class conditions in the early stages, and most of the favourites for the event handled it with aplomb. There was, however, a lone upset in the first elimination round, with the typically consistent Courtney Conlogue one of the first two eliminated from the event, albeit in somewhat unlucky fashion – she scored an 11.44 in the three-woman elimination heat, and was trumped by an 11.97 and a 12.5.
Enter the Round of 16 and it was Caroline Marks’ turn to endure some bad luck. In the first heat of that round, she surfed very well to put together a score of 14 – unfortunately for her, opponent Bronte Macauley was even better in accumulating a 15.43, resigning the prodigious young talent to a ninth-place finish after winning at Narrabeen.
Marks aside, the rest of the big guns did what they needed to do. Weston-Webb looked strong in beating Sage Erickson, Tyler Wright crept over the line against Brisa Hennessy, while Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons were both too strong in their respective heats. Yellow jersey holder Carissa Moore was made to work the hardest, with her opponent Macy Callaghan surfing brilliantly to put together a 16.17, but she proved just how tough she is to beat by going even better with a 16.93.
The quarterfinals were some of the best heats of the season – Macauley outlasted Johanne Defay in a tied heat courtesy of having the highest individual wave score, Weston-Webb accumulated 16.23 to upset Tyler Wright, while Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons put on a show in a heat which Gilmore won 15.73-14.17. Moore, unsurprisingly, also won through.
The semis were not quite as high scoring, but the second of them was equally as entertaining. Weston-Webb was the first to win through to the final against Macauley, before Steph Gilmore continued to show that there is still plenty of life in her surfing career yet by sneaking over the line against Moore, 12.24-12.
And so it was two women looking for their first event win for the 2021 season in the final, and both of them lived up to expectations. Gilmore was terrific, managing a 6.83 and an 8.17 for a heat score of 15, but that wasn’t enough to stop the irrepressible Weston-Webb. The Brazilian combined a 7.73 with an 8.5 for a huge 16.23 total, earning herself a valuable 10,000 points in the title race in the process.
The win, which followed a second-place finish at Narrabeen, helped to continue her ascent up the standings, and she has now significantly narrowed the gap on leader Carissa Moore. Weston-Webb sits comfortably in second, with Gilmore now in third and Marks just behind in fourth. Tyler Wright rounds out the top five, but her grip on the final of the spots which will give surfers entry into the season-ending event at Trestles is a tenuous one. Fitzgibbons is right on her tail, while Defay and Isabella Nicholls are not far back. In a similar vein to the men’s tour, while there is some separation right at the top of the leaderboard, it looks like competition for those final couple of spots in the top five is going to be fierce.
The Championship Tour continues on its rapid march next week, with fans and competitors alike being given only just enough time to catch their collective breath before we head across to Rottnest Island for the Rip Curl Search. It’s the first time the World Tour has competed there, and with the quokkas set to make up the bulk of the crowd, it will be one of the most unique events of the season.
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