Owen Wright verslaat Slater en wint Quiksilver Pro New York
Na vier dagen goede surf is de winnaar bekend en die winnaar is Wright. Owen Wright versloeg de 10-voudig wereldkampioen Kelly Slater in de finale en mag 300.000 dollar mee naar huis nemen. Hiermee schuift de 21-jarige rookie uit Australië op in de ranking naar plaats 2.
Wright verspilde geen tijd in de finale door in de openingsminuten hoge scores (7.00, 9.23 en 8.00) neer te zetten. Slater kon zijn kwartfinale en halve finale heats niet nadoen in de finale en legde het hierbij af tegen de Aussie. In de laatste minuut gaf hij nog een keer alles maar dat leverde niet meer op dan een gebroken board.
Owen Wright viert zijn overwinning. Foto: Maassen/Quiksilver
Kelly Slater in actie tijdens de finale. Foto: Maassen/Quiksilver
Wright vs. Slater:
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Hoogtepunten finaledag:
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Owen Wright:
“Firstly all my friends and family came to mind. I’m just as stoked as they are. It just overwhelmed me thinking of them.”
“The conditions were perfect for me. I knew I’d do everything I could to get to the final with Kelly and I knew he’d be there anyway. Once I got the final I went, no, this is payback for last week! But I’ve watched Kelly my whole life. He’s been a huge inspiration to me.”
“I walked for six hours one day in the city just looking around. I’ve seen nothing like it before. I went to the top of the Empire State building and looked down and I was thinking Central Park was just some small park, but it’s like central forest! It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen. But that’s just New York. Everything’s huge. Huge prize money, hell trophy and perfect surf.”
Kelly Slater over Wright:
“Owen’s first win – this is going to be a memory for his whole life and I’m stoked to be in that final with him. I’m a hundred per cent confident that he’s going to at least one world title. He’s basically still a rookie and in my opinion he’s probably the most well-rounded guy on tour.”
“I felt off from wave one. I took off on the first wave and just misread it.”
Kelly Slater over de perfecte score in de halve finale:
“It’s funny, because I get nervous until somebody gets a good ride and then I know what I need to do. I almost enjoy it more when somebody gets a big score because it brings you to a level. It opens the flood-gates for you.”
Taj Burrow over de perfecte score van Kelly Slater in de halve finale:
“Even with my 9 and a 7.8, I still didn’t feel safe because Kelly’s capable of (a perfect 10) and he did it.”
“He tried lots of wild airs and the wind wasn’t cooperating with him… and I was like, I hope he doesn’t stick one of these things. But sure enough, he gets a big wedge and I let him have it. It looked too big and dumpy. But he did the best air of his life! I don’t know how he does it. It won’t even do it justice explaining how freakish that actually is, what he just did. That’s the best air he’s ever done in his life and he did it when he needed, with a minute to go, and it had to be against me. It hurts. It’s awful.”
