In der vergangenen Nacht gab es bei den Billabong Pipe Masters ordentliche 2 Meter Wellen und für Mick Fanning einen ziemlich schnellen Abgang nach seiner Niederlage in Runde 4.

Der 2-fache ASP World Champion und Weltmeister -Anwärter, dominierte zwar in der Runde 3 gegen den Wildcard Gewinner Kaimana Jaquias (HAW) 20. Jedoch verlor er in Runde 4 gegen John John Florence (HAW) 21 und Nat Young (USA) 22. In der letzten Minute des Heats wurde er vom Heatleader Florence auf den dritten Platz katapulztiert. Nun trifft Fanning auf C.J. Hobgood (USA) in Runde 5 und kann nur Hoffen das Kelly Slater in den nächsten Runden verliert damit er ihm nicht den Titel wegschnappt. Dieser war jedoch am dritten Tag nicht zu stoppen und darf sich direkt auf den Einzug ins Viertelfinale freuen.

“I was worried this-morning about the conditions. John John (Florence) and I were out trying to catch a couple of waves and I kind of thought ‘maybe we shouldn’t run, maybe we should wait and hour or two until it gets better.’ It seemed like it turned on during my heat and some kind of energy came through for me. I knew I had to make that heat, you can’t let those things escape your mind, that was the reality of the situation, but it’s not going to change how you go out there and perform. I had to go out there focused.” so Kelly.

John John Florence: “I was nervous when I found out Gabriel (Medina) was in my heat. I watched his heat yesterday and he was getting 8s on every wave and doing huge airs, so I was kind of freaked out. Days like this, you can’t be picky and I think I caught about 10 waves before I made one. I hit the bottom and was rattled until the end. That last backdoor wave was really perfect and once I came through the section it was just perfect and easy from there.”

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 12.66 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.66
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.33 def. Fred Patacchia (HAW) 7.13
Heat 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.97 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 8.33
Heat 4: Nat Young (USA) 14.97 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.40
Heat 5: John John Florence (HAW) 16.23 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.00
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.63 def. Kaimana Jaquias (HAW) 6.27
Heat 7: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 14.67 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 9.76
Heat 8: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 13.77 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.17
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.66 def. Mitch Crews (AUS) 3.30
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.33 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 10.96
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 17.10 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.67
Heat 12: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.56 def. Dusty Payne (AUS) 7.33

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 14.83, Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.96, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.84
Heat 2:John John Florence (HAW) 16.37, Nat Young (USA) 14.00, Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.51
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.56, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 14.50, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.17
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.77, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.57, Kai Otton (AUS) 7.60

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS ROUND 5 MATCH UPS:

Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)
Heat 2: Nat Young (USA) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 3: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)

Current Vans Triple Crown Top 5:

1 – John John Florence (HAW) 10,600 points
2 – Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10,400 points
3 – Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 10,100 points
4 – Yadin Nicol (AUS) 9,300 points
5 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 8,400 points