Four foot barrels and a boost up the ASP Women's World Tour Rankings greeted Melanie Bartels on Wednesday, as she won the Billabong Girls Pro Rio in Brazil. With former world surfing champ Sofia Mulanovich, current title holder Stephanie Gilmore and veteran competitor all out to win those essential points - that had punters earlier in the week claiming a surfing world champ could be named in Rio - it was a tough pro surf contest, with a 5 day lay period making it worse. But 26 year old Bartels came top after beating Gilmore in the Semifinals and then in the finals - which has been dubbed 'the best heat in women's professional surfing history' beat Sofia with a 19 and 18.5 wave.
“After that Semifinal with Steph (Gilmore) I was filled with a lot of confidence,” Bartels said to ASP writers. “The waves pumped for that heat and we were trading barrel after barrel. That’s the most fun I’ve had in a heat in a long time. I had a tough start to the year with sponsors and results, but that just made me really hungry and after today, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year.”.
Event number 4 of 8 on the Women's World Surfing Tour, it's now become an even tighter race between Mulanovich, strong at number two, and Gilmore, currently at the top of the rankings. The Tour Champion title could go to either pro woman surfer at any point from now...
“Another Final is a good result for me,” Mulanovich said. “Of course I would have liked a win, but congratulations to Mel (Bartels), she was on fire. I just couldn’t find the scoring waves in the Final so maybe things will be different next time. The next event is in Sydney and after that it is at home in Peru so I am looking forward these next few events.”
“You can’t be too disappointed when you lose a heat like that,” Gilmore said about her semi final. “Mel (Bartels) surfed amazing and deserved that win. I did everything I could out there and there wasn’t much more I could do. Mel got two really good waves and I got one really good one.”
Gilmore did nab a Kustom Best Wave Award though, for an epic 10-point backdoor barrel.
For a full report head to the official ASP World Tour site
