Jordy Smith increases rankings lead after Trestles
South Africa’s Jordy Smith increased his lead at the top of the World Championship Tour when he finished runner-up to Filipe Toledo in the final of the Hurley Pro at on Friday.
In a wave-starved final, Smith’s strategy of waiting for the bigger waves saw him record the highest score of the 35-minute encounter, a 9.0 out of 10.
But Toledo stayed busy and racked up scores of 8.0 and 7.67 to secure his first title at Trestles and in the process became the first male CT surfer to win two events this year.
“I would’ve liked to get a couple more waves in that heat, but today wasn’t my day, unfortunately, and Filipe [Toledo] just surfed really well,” Smith said.
“I went out there with a strategy and executed it pretty much as perfectly as I could.
But in surfing, there are some things you can’t control and that’s Mother Nature. In that 35-minutes I just didn’t get a second chance.
“Now I’ll just try to focus on the next event and live every moment for what it is and what’s to come.
It’s time to get ready for Europe where it’s very happy-go-lucky and I like roaming those lineups and just
Smith, who came into the event as the No. 1 ranked surfer in the world, 950 points ahead of 2016 World Champion John John Florence (HAW), earned US $50,000 (approx R650,000) and 8,000 points at Trestles.
The Durbanite is now 2,450 points ahead of Florence, who remains rankings runner-up following his defeat by Toledo in the semi-finals, and 8,650 points above No. 3 Julian Wilson (AUS).
The next CT event for Men is the Quiksilver Pro France on the Bay of Biscay coast from October 7 to 18.
Hurley Pro Final Results:
1 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 15.67
2 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 9.80
Hurley Pro Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.33 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 10.17
SF 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.90 def. John John Florence (HAW) 12.66
2017 WSL Men’s Jeep Leaderboard (After Hurley Pro at Trestles):
1 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 45,850 pts
2 – John John Florence (HAW) 43,400 pts
3 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 37,200 pts
4 – Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 36,450 pts
5 – Owen Wright (AUS) 35,850 pts