Just four days after the event window began, the Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic is already done and dusted and two new winners have been crowned. Let’s take a look at what went down on both the men’s and the women’s side of the draw.
Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic – Women’s
The early stages of the Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic saw a couple of notable upsets on the women’s side of the draw. Isabella Nichols suffered a surprise early exit in the first round after a runner-up performance at Newcastle, but it was in the Round of 16 that the biggest upset took place. Tyler Wright was knocked out by Johanne Defay, making it two consecutive exits in that round after she began the year with a win at Pipeline.
In reality she was unlucky having scored a decent 12.97, but nonetheless her lack of winning form opened up the top of the rankings leaderboard, and the likes of Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks took full advantage. Those two put together the highest scores of the quarter-finals, knocking out Keely Andrew and Johanne Defay respectively, while elsewhere Steph Gilmore was knocked out by Courtney Conlogue, giving her a third consecutive fifth-place finish to start the season.
As things heated up so too did the surfing, and surprisingly it was Carissa Moore unable to take it up a notch. She managed just 10.8 in the first semi-final and lost comfortably to Tatiana Weston-Webb, while in the other Caroline Marks and Courtney Conlogue battled out a thriller. Marks snuck over the line courtesy of a 7.23 and a 6.37, enough to see her outlast Conlogue by the barest of margins.
Weston-Webb had been surfing well throughout the tournament, but Marks was too good in the final. Her 7.27 was the best score of the heat while she also had a better back-up than her opponent, and the 12.57-11.34 win saw the 19-year-old jump into second place in the Championship Tour rankings. She moved ahead of the likes of Wright and Gilmore, but it’s Moore who has established a solid lead atop the leaderboard three events in.
Moore is the only surfer to have put in three good performances, having finished first, second and third in the events to date, and is looking likely to be the woman to beat at Trestles later this year. Her competitors have all put in at least one bad one – Marks was ninth in Hawaii, Weston-Webb and Wright ninth at Newcastle – while Gilmore, in fifth, has been consistent without troubling the top few. Their next chance to close the gap will come in just a little over a week when the Tour heads west to Margaret River, though with Moore having already won their twice in her career it would be no surprise to see her open up the margin on the rest even further.
Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic – Men’s
The highlight of the opening rounds of the men’s side of the Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic was undoubtedly the return of Mick Fanning to the water, but unfortunately that return was relatively short-lived. He surfed reasonably well in his three-man heat in the seeding round, but a second-place finish meant he was sent to the Round of 32, where unfortunately he was matched up against a guy named Italo Ferreira. Incidentally, Ferreira was the man against whom Fanning surfed what was supposed to be his final professional heat in the 2018 final at Bells – Ferreira snuck over the line that time, and the result here was no different.
The favourites escaped that round unscathed in difficult conditions, though many of them weren’t exactly convincing. Filipe Toledo scored just 9.63, Gabriel Medina 11.17 and John John Florence 11.1, but nonetheless they all scrapped their way into the Round of 16. Yago Dora showed the best form in that round, putting together a total of 16.33 – no one else managed more than 13.57.
But while the Round of 32 saw results mostly go as expected, the favourites began to fall in the Round of 16. First it was John John – he had his second consecutive disappointing finish as he was defeated by the hugely impressive Morgan Cibilic, who put together the highest total of the round. The very next heat, Conner Coffin disposed of Ferreira with a last-second wave in an incredibly tight heat – Ferreira showed his passion by throwing his board on the changeroom floor and snapping it in half, and unfortunately for him the cameras caught every bit of it.
Medina was the star of the quarter-finals. His score of 15.97 was comfortably the best of the round, and having scored a 9.00 in the previous round on an individual wave he was clearly shaping up as the man to beat. Frederico Morais also seemed to be enjoying the conditions at Narrabeen, putting together a 13.84 to advance, while Conner Coffin and Griffin Colapinto also advanced through to the final four.
Medina and Morais kicked off the semis, and while neither of them surfed at their best it was the Brazilian who advanced through to the finals with a 12.5-10.7 win. In the second semi-final, Coffin showed the benefit of selective surfing, scoring a 13.83-11.03 win despite taking just three waves compared to Colapinto’s 11.
As beautiful as Coffin’s surfing is, the major hurdle he faces in competition is an inability to put together really top-level scores. It’s safe to say Medina does not have this issue, and that’s exactly the way the final played out. Coffin surfed well on his way to a 14.1 total with an 8.77 the highlight, but Medina was way too good, exceeding 9 on two individual waves to end with a winning score of 18.77.
Medina has now made the final in all three events so far this year, and the scariest thing for competitors is that he appears to have another gear to go to. He’s been doing just enough in the earlier rounds before ramping things up as the number of competitors decreases, and he’s established a very strong lead atop the Championship Tour standing. With 25,600 points he is already more than 6,000 clear of Ferreira in second, and a huge 11,000 clear of Florence back in third. He has broken away from the pack as the unequivocal leader in this year’s Championship Tour race, and will likely be favourite to widen the gap further in Western Australia early in May.
