Carissa is Champ

Moore (Oahu, HAW) clinched the title when closest rival Sally Fitzgibbons lost to Stephanie Gilmore in the semi-final, giving her an unassailable lead. Gilmore (Gold Coast, AUS), 23, went on to win the event, surfing in the final against Moore.

Gilmore clinched her first victory of the season in good quality three-foot surf, finding the only clean barrel of the event en route to victory.

Moore, whose barnstorming run this year has seen her win five event titles, led the battle for fifteen minutes netting an 8.00 point score on her third wave thanks to her custom-made upside-down turns and 360° reverses. Showing great consistency and mental strength during the nerve-racking world title showdown all week, Moore came short of only 1.77 points to finish her Biarritz run as runner-up.

“It’s been a great event and I was just smiling during the whole final,” an ecstatic Moore said. “It’s probably the heat I’ve spoken in most in my career and we were just enjoying our time out there with Stephanie. The waves were fun and I am just super stoked to be here in Biarritz.”

“Today was unbelievable because so much has gone down,” Gilmore said. “In my perfect world, somebody would be crowned world champ and I would take the win and that is what I dreamt about. It feels so good. I missed it so much this year. I am so happy right now.”

Gilmore, who was ousted from the ASP Women’s World title race after the fifth event in Brazil, came to Biarritz relaxed, bringing her stylish forehand attack, on-the-rail cutback and vertical top-turn lethal weapons to make her way through to the final and win the event, a win with a special taste ahead of wunderkid and favorite Moore.

“Her turns out there were really strong and I thought she was surfing better than me but I got a little head dip and it was the excitement of everything,” Gilmore added. “It feels good to beat her and she has definitely raised the bar for all the girls this year. She is definitely the strongest of everyone this whole year and she has been in every single final and that is a new record. To beat the freshly crowned world champ is pretty cool.”

La Côte des Basques, world famous surf destination and cradle of French surfing, hosted the Roxy Pro Biarritz, a unique competition format combining the traditional ASP Women’s World Longbard Tour event and an additional ASP Women’s World title event.

The Roxy Pro Biarritz brought some of the world’s most attractive surf action to France’s South West coast for a full-week of action, music and art happening.

ROXY PRO FINAL
1st, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 17.27
2nd, Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.50
ROXY PRO SEMIFINALS
Heat 1 : Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.27 def. Pauline Ado (FRA) 9.67
Heat 2 : Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.30 def. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
ROXY PRO QUARTERFINALS
Heat 1 : Pauline Ado (FRA) 11.50 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 11.23
Heat 2 : Carissa Moore (HAW) 17.34 def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 12.50
Heat 3 : Sally Fitzgibons (AUS) 14.37 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.67
Heat 4 : Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 16.30 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 15.87
ROXY PRO ROUND 4
Heat 1 : Pauline Ado (FRA) 13.16 def. Lee-Ann Curren (FRA) 12.34
Heat 2 : Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.94 def. Tyler Wright (AUS) 7.97
Heat 3 : Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 10.00 def. Laura Enever (AUS) 4.60
Heat 4 : Coco Ho (HAW) 12.40 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 11.30