Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
\n(January 1-8 2007)<\/p>\n
See the event LIVE on www.aspworldtour.com or www.billabongpro.com<\/p>\n
North Narrabeen, Australia (Sat. Jan 6, 2007) \u0096 After a putting a on a tremendous performance in the one metre (three foot) Narrabeen beach-breaks Nicola Atherton (AUS) has taken out the girls division of the most prestigious junior professional surfing event on the planet \u0096 the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships. <\/p>\n
It was red letter day for the future of women\u0092s surfing as the performance bar was raised dramatically as the two finalists went blow for blow, displaying that with their complete range of new school tricks and old school power carves they are in fact the real deal and will go on to conquer great heights.For Atherton, who finished runner up to Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) in the inaugural event last year it was a well deserved win as she notched up an 8.17 for throwing down some major turns. <\/p>\n
From there she never looked in doubt as her foe Anali Gomez of Peru struggled to find a wave that would allow her to let loose. <\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092m just feeling relief at the moment! I can\u0092t describe how good it feels,\u0094 said a jubilant Atherton. \u0093I don\u0092t think it\u0092s hit me yet. I\u0092m just glad that it\u0092s over and I did it and have got that thing off my back! I\u0092m a world champion [laughs]\u0085 I set out to do this and have been thinking about it for six months. It is my last junior event and what a way to cap it off!\u0094<\/p>\n
By taking the win Atherton follows in the footsteps of her good friend and current world number four Jessi Miley-Dyer who claimed victory here last year. <\/p>\n
Both hail from the small Sydney beach of Bronte and Atherton claims that their upbringing and their rivalry has been the driving force behind their success.<\/p>\n
\u0093Bronte is a tiny beach yet we tend to breed a lot of good surfers,\u0094 said Atherton. \u0093It\u0092s a small environment which in turn develops some good rivalries. Plus we\u0092re surrounded by all the guys who always talk to us about our surfing, which amps us up. Jessi has always been an inspiration for me so to follow her in taking out this title feels amazing.\u0094<\/p>\n
Of her fellow finalist Atherton was fully aware that she had to be on her toes right throughout the 30-minute affair. <\/p>\n
Having surfed against Gomez in other events she expected the going to be tough despite Gomez\u0092s relative anonymity. <\/p>\n
\u0093Anali is an amazing surfer,\u0094 said Atherton. \u0093Not many people know about her, yet she is capable of throwing down some 9.0 rides\u0085 I\u0092ve seen her go mental on her backhand before\u0085 she\u0092s a fantastic surfer and a great friend.\u0094<\/p>\n
As for her being on stage at the ASP World Champions Banquet in just over a month\u0092s time\u0085<\/p>\n
\u0093I didn\u0092t know I had to do that!\u0094 squealed Atherton. \u0093I\u0092m going to be a mumbling mess when I have to stand on stage with Layne Beachley and Kelly Slater!\u0094<\/p>\n
For Gomez, the runner-up finish is a career highlight and despite going so close but yet so far to getting a win she was overwhelmed with her result. <\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092m so happy,\u0094 said Gomez who speaks little English. \u0093I would like to say congratulations to Nicola\u0085 she did so well. Thank you very much Australia\u0085 I love it here.\u0094 <\/p>\n
Finishing in equal third was event favourite Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) and Hawaiian up and comer Coco Ho. <\/p>\n
Both surfed exceptionally well throughout the early rounds and at the end of the day showed that if the waves had gone their way they were definitely title contenders. <\/p>\n
Gilmore in particular was emotional about the semifinal defeat but was philosophical that in the end it would only make her hungrier for success. <\/p>\n
\u0093I was just floating around out there,\u0094 said Gilmore. \u0093I was undecided about whether to sit on the left or the rights so I sat in the middle like an idiot. But at the end of the day this will just me hungrier.\u0094<\/p>\n
Ho meanwhile enjoyed her experience and with a few more years left in junior competition will no doubt gain confidence and in future go all the way. <\/p>\n
\u0093I really enjoyed coming here,\u0094 said Ho. \u0093And hopefully next time I\u0092ll be a little stronger and will do a little better.\u0094<\/p>\n
Of the men\u0092s today Matt Wilkinson (AUS) stood the event on its ear with his demolition of fellow Aussie Mitch Coleborn. <\/p>\n
Locking in three scores over 9.0 after launching some huge aerial turns he put on the standout performance of the event to date scoring a total of 18.37 out of 20. <\/p>\n
\u0093I was watching for a while before the heat and saw that the rights were better,\u0094 said Wilkinson. \u0093I picked off a 9.0 to start with and gained plenty of confidence from it and just went on from there. I just hope I haven\u0092t peaked too early!\u0094<\/p>\n
The men\u0092s division round four will be completed today and tomorrow it is expected that the quarterfinals will hit the water at around 8am. <\/p>\n
Stay tuned to www.aspworldtour.com or www.billabongpro.com for all the updates. <\/p>\n
For transcribed athlete quotes, audio downloads and all the results head to the media centre of the above sites. <\/p>\n
Women\u0092s Final results:<\/p>\n
Quarterfinals:<\/p>\n
Heat 1: Anali Gomez (PER) 11.50 def Alize Arnaud (FRA) 8.24
\nHeat 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.17 def Pauline Ado (FRA) 9.10
\nHeat 3: Nicola Atherton (AUS) 11.47 def Lee Ann Curren (FRA) 9.00
\nHeat 4: Coco Ho (HAW) 9.43 def Leila Hurst (HAW) 9.00<\/p>\n
Semifinals:
\nSemifinal 1: Anali Gomez (PER) 9.84 def Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 9.73
\nSemifinal 2: Nicola Atherton (AUS) 10.67 def Coco Ho (HAW) 9.67<\/p>\n
Final: Nicola Atherton (AUS) 11.84 def Anali Gomez (PER) 9.50<\/p>\n
Men\u0092s Round Four Results (at time of going to press): <\/p>\n
Heat 1: Hank Gaskell (HAW) 16.83 def Hideyoshi Tanaka (JPN) 14.00
\nHeat 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 18.37 def Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 12.50
\nHeat 3: Thiago Camarao (BRA) 17.17 def Heitor Pereira (BRA) 15.50
\nHeat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.76 def Dusty Payne (HAW) 10.90<\/p>\n
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs jean Sebastien (FRA)
\nHeat 6: Dion Atkinson (AUS) vs Pierre-Valentin Lombard (FRA)
\nHeat 7: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs Torrey Meister (HAW)
\nHeat 8: TJ Barron (HAW) vs Mason Ho (HAW)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billabong ASP World Junior Championships (January 1-8 2007) See the event LIVE on www.aspworldtour.com or www.billabongpro.com North Narrabeen, Australia (Sat. Jan 6, 2007) \u0096 After a putting a on a tremendous performance in the one metre (three foot) Narrabeen beach-breaks Nicola Atherton (AUS) has taken out the girls division of the most prestigious junior professional … Continue reading “NICOLA ATHERTON CLAIMS BILLABONG ASP WORLD JUNIOR WOMEN\u0092S CROWN”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}