TRIPLE CROWN OF SURFING
ASP COVERED IMAGES
Joel Parkinson, above, prevented Andy Irons from holding all of the titles from the Vans Triple Crown by winning the O'Neill World Cup yesterday. CLICK FOR LARGE
|
|
Parkinson: 'Unreal'
The Aussie earns a perfect 10 while winning the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing, denying Irons an "Andy Slam"
By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin
There will be no "Andy Slam" for now.
That's because Joel Parkinson, not Andy Irons, won the 32nd annual O'Neill World Cup of Surfing yesterday at Sunset Beach.
Though Kauai's Irons had the chance to be the first to hold all the winner's trophies from the prestigious Vans Triple Crown of Surfing at one time by also making the four-man final of the series' second jewel, Australia's Parkinson resoundingly slammed that door shut with a perfect 10 wave score in the decider and his second career World Cup victory.
"This feels unreal," said the 25-year-old Parkinson, who also won the event in 2002 and is currently ranked No. 6 in the world. "I really wasn't thinking about winning it a second time, just winning it this time."
Like Irons, Parkinson is primarily sponsored by Billabong and said of ending his teammate's historical quest: "Andy's been one of the most inspirational people in my career. He's (beaten) me a lot, and I've got him a few times now. As much as I enjoy beating him, I've got to thank him too for pushing me."
Parkinson's 10 was the lone perfect score of the entire event, and it was added to a 7.67 he notched earlier in the 35-minute final for a convincing win with 17.67 total for his top two rides.
In the first truly outstanding and extra-large surf in this year's Triple Crown, Parkinson snagged a solid 16-foot-face set with 10 minutes remaining in the heat, and executed a deep and drawn-out carve on its steep wall before successfully negotiating his way through its barreling section to get the perfect mark.
Wave heights grew throughout the day, and ranged from about 10 to almost 20 feet.
"Sunset's a tricky place. I tried to read the sets, and I got lucky," said Parkinson, who also picked up $15,000 with the victory. "Finding the right wave is the hardest part about surfing here. But this was epic Sunset."
World No. 5 Irons didn't find his rhythm or a decent wave during the entire final, and finished in third place with only 4.77 total. The surprise of the contest, South Africa's Jordy Smith (11.80), took second after gaining entry as an alternate, while Sunset Beach's Fred Patacchia Jr. (4.23) placed fourth.
Coming into the World Cup, Irons had the opportunity to become the first surfer in the 24-year history of the Triple Crown to hold all three of its championships simultaneously if he won the event. He took the final jewel -- the Pipeline Masters -- last year en route to also winning the overall Triple Crown title that goes to the top performer in the three North Shore events. Then he won the first jewel to open this year's series.
But, despite surfing well in the quarterfinals and semis yesterday, he came up just a bit short of completing the Slam. It was still his second straight Triple Crown final this year, however, and he remains the current series leader, with Parkinson in second place and Patacchia in third. And, with his 2004 World Cup victory, Irons remains one of only two surfers (Australia's Gary Elkerton is the other) to win all three series events over a career.
"The big picture is winning the Triple Crown," Irons said. "I still feel good going into Pipe."
Besides being part of the Triple Crown, the World Cup was also the finale for the World Qualifying Series, a lower-tiered tour surfers use to qualify for the elite World Championship Tour, which is generally reserved for the world's top 45.
But because it is part of the Triple Crown, most from the WCT regularly participate.
Among them, current and record eight-time world champion Kelly Slater of Florida was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Ranked No. 55 on the WQS before the World Cup, the 18-year-old Smith was already out of the 2007 WCT picture (generally, top 15 from WQS qualify for WCT). But Smith did move up nearly 30 spots -- to No. 26 -- in the final WQS rankings and was named Triple Crown rookie of the year.
"This is a dream come true," Smith said. "To be with those guys in the final -- those are all my favorite surfers. Hopefully I can continue to do well next year."