THE world’s best female surfers are heading to Portugal for the first event on the European leg of the 2017 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the Cascais Women’s Pro, which runs from September 27 until October 5, 2017.
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With just three events remaining on this year’s CT, stop number eight will be a crucial event in the hunt for this year’s world surfing crown and the race to re-qualify for next year’s elite tour.
The Women’s World Title race is extremely tight at the top this season and there are just 400 points separating the top three surfers on the Jeep Leaderboard - Georra’s Sally Fitzgibbons leads the way closely followed by Courtney Conlogue (US), both on the hunt for their maiden world title, and reigning WSL Champion Tyler Wright, from Culburra Beach, sits just behind in third place.
Current number one on the Jeep Leaderboard Fitzgibbons has been runner-up to the WSL Title three times in her career.
Now wearing the Jeep Leader Jersey and with only three events left, the Australian has an opportunity to strengthen her lead over the top 17 in Cascais.
“Cascais is a place where I’ve had a lot of success competitively over the years and I really have a great relationship with the beachbreaks and the waves here,” Fitzgibbons said.
“The title race this year is really exciting and inspiring to be apart of.
‘” I feel like at some stage if you want to be the World Champion you have to grab hold of the leader’s jersey and not let go, so that’s the plan!”
For more information, check out WorldSurfLeague.com.
Cascais Women's Pro round one match-ups:
Heat 1: Sage Erickson (USA), Lakey Peterson (USA), Pauline Ado (FRA)
Heat 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Carissa Moore (HAW), Malia Manuel (HAW)
Heat 3: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Coco Ho (HAW), Teresa Bonvalot (PRT)
Heat 4: Courtney Conlogue (USA), Keely Andrew (AUS), Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)
Heat 5: Tyler Wright (AUS), Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW), Bronte Macaulay (AUS)
Heat 6: Johanne Defay (FRA), Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), Silvana Lima (BRA)
EDP Billabong Pro Cascais round one match-ups:
Heat 1: Peterson Crisanto (BRA), Nomme Mignot (FRA), Marcos Correa (BRA), Miguel Blanco (PRT)
Heat 2: Jordy Collins (USA), Leandro Usuna (ARG), Manuel Selman (CHL), Michael Dunphy (USA)
Heat 3: David Van Zyl (ZAF), Kilian Garland (USA), Kalani Ball (AUS), Samuel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 4: Santiago Muniz (ARG), Mihimana Braye (PYF), Nathan Yeomans (USA), Adrien Toyon (FRA)
Heat 5: David Do Carmo (BRA), Diego Mignot (FRA), Joshua Burke (BRB), Tomas Fernandes (PRT)
Heat 6: Brett Simpson (USA), Maxime Huscenot (FRA), Tanner Hendrickson (HAW), Dylan Goodale (HAW)
Heat 7: Lliam Mortensen (AUS), Jacob Willcox (AUS), Jackson Baker (AUS), Jack Robinson (AUS)
Heat 8: Robson Santos (BRA), Shun Murakami (JPN), Mateus Herdy (BRA), Titouan Boyer (FRA)