Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach presented by Snickers Stop No 2. of 7 on the ASP Women\u0092s World Tour Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia April 3 – 13, 2007<\/p>\n
BELLS BEACH, Australia (Friday, Apr. 6, 2007) \u0096 ASP Women\u0092s World Tour Rookie Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) is on top of the world after winning the Rip Curl Women\u0092s Pro and her first victory as an elite tour surfer at Bells Beach today.<\/p>\n
Gilmore\u0092s trouncing of defending Rip Curl Pro and 2004 World Champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER) in the Final has catapulted her to equal World No. 1 for the first time in her career. She shares the rating with 2005 World Champion Chelsea Hedges (AUS).\u0093I\u0092m just over the moon, this is unbelievable,\u0094 Gilmore said. \u0093To compete against Sofia, a defending champ, in the final and manage to win means I\u0092m back on track. To be World No. 1 next to Chels is amazing and exactly where I want to be.\u0094<\/p>\n
Gilmore, who won two ASP Women\u0092s World Tour events as a wildcard before qualifying for the 2007 elite tour, has been vocal about her aspirations to earn a world title her first year on tour. She was disappointed to start that campaign with an equal 5th finish after being eliminated by Hedges in the Quarterfinals on the Gold Coast of Australia last month. Her Quarterfinal win over Hedges today puts the surfers at two wins apiece in elite tour competition.<\/p>\n
\u0093I was feeling pretty confident that once I had knocked off Chelsea I thought I could probably take it to the top,\u0094 Gilmore said. \u0093She\u0092s in great form, as are all the girls, but Chelsea was the biggest hurdle and I knew that if I could get over that then I could take this through to the final.\u0094 <\/p>\n
Gilmore trailed Mulanovich for the first half of the Final, but left the Peruvian needing a perfect 10.00 after posting the highest wave score of the entire event, a 9.33, with six minutes to go. <\/p>\n
\u0093It is always great to build up momentum going into the final, Gilmore said. \u0093It\u0092s kind of hard because you want to go hard every heat, but in cold conditions you want to leave some energy and give 100 percent in the final. That was my game plan and it all worked.\u0094<\/p>\n
Mulanovich, who \u0091rang the Bell\u0092 when the women\u0092s event was last held at Bells Beach in 2005, moved from equal 17th to World No. 3 with the Rip Curl Pro runner-up finish.<\/p>\n
\u0093Steph is such a great surfer and before my heat I was super nervous,\u0094 Mulanovich said. \u0093She\u0092s so amazing, just to watch her surf and see her score. I\u0092m just stoked to make it to the final with her.\u0094<\/p>\n
Mulanovich\u0092s final berth today was her first since 2005 when she won an ASP Women\u0092s World Tour event in England. She was not a factor in last year\u0092s world title race but is looking to be back in the mix in 2007.<\/p>\n
\u0093I was just happy making it heat by heat because I came dead last on the Gold Coast so to make the final was a great improvement,\u0094 Mulanovich said. \u0093My Gold Coast result was a throw away but I can still be in the running for the title. I just have to work on a few things and my nervousness. I\u0092m a nervous wreck. I just need to work on that and have fun.\u0094<\/p>\n
Mulanovich beat reigning world champion and three-time Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach winner Layne Beachley (AUS) in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
\u0093I\u0092m disappointed because I let a wave go and Sofia got a 5.90 under my priority with 18 minutes to go,\u0094 Beachley said. \u0093I thought I could afford to wait and it just didn\u0092t pay off \u0096 I played too much of the patience game. I started strong, I just wasn\u0092t able to capitalize from the start.\u0094<\/p>\n
Beachley won her seventh world title last year and has cited upcoming talent such as Gilmore as a major motivation for staying on tour.<\/p>\n
\u0093It\u0092s not a bad result,\u0094 Beachley said. \u0093I was hoping to at least make the final. I really wanted to pay back Steph for beating me at my own event. I would love to get her at her sponsor\u0092s event. Even still, it\u0092s great that Rip Curl has brought us back here and hopefully I will be on tour long enough to win another Bell.\u0094<\/p>\n
Samantha Cornish (AUS) also made a semifinal showing today but was easily eliminated by Gilmore in their wave-starved heat.<\/p>\n
\u0093Yeah it was definitely slow out there,\u0094 Cornish said. \u0093I was finding it hard to catch a wave for the first 15 minutes. Stephanie only had a 6.0 which was unfortunate because I could have had a chance \u0096 I just made several mistakes out there. You live and learn. It\u0092s a loss but it\u0092s a good result for me and I\u0092m happy with that.\u0094<\/p>\n
The women will not surf another ASP Women\u0092s World Tour event until August when they will head to Brazil.<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Women\u0092s Pro Final Results:
\nHEAT 1: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 16.50 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 11.93<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Women\u0092s Pro Semifinal Results: 1st advances to Final, 2nd finishes equal 3rd HEAT 1: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 15.17 def. Samantha Cornish (AUS) 5.94 HEAT 2: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 11.50 def. Layne Beachley (AUS) 8.56<\/p>\n
Rip Curl Women\u0092s Pro Quarterfinal Results: 1st advances to Semifinal, 2nd finishes equal 5th HEAT 1: Samantha Cornish (AUS) 12.00 def. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 7.16 HEAT 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 14.50 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 12.17 HEAT 3: Layne Beachley (AUS) 13.00 def. Amee Donohoe (AUS) 12.67 HEAT 4: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 12.50 def. Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) 9.00<\/p>\n
ASP Women\u0092s World Tour Ratings after the Rip Curl Women\u0092s Pro, Stop 2 of 7 on the ASP Women\u0092s World Tour 1. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 1752 points 1. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 1752 points 3. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 1152 points 4. Layne Beachley (AUS) 1116 points 4. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 1116 points 4. Silvana Lima (BRA) 1116 points 4. Samantha Cornish (AUS) 1116 points 8. Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) 1104 points 8. Amee Donohoe (AUS) 1104 points 10. Megan Abubo (HAW) 912 points 10. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 912 points 12. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 720 points 12. Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 720 points 12. Melanie Bartels (HAW) 720 points 12. Caroline Sarran (FRA) 720 points 17. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 360 points<\/p>\n
Additional information is available online at www.aspworldtour.com and www.ripcurlpro.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach presented by Snickers Stop No 2. of 7 on the ASP Women\u0092s World Tour Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia April 3 – 13, 2007 BELLS BEACH, Australia (Friday, Apr. 6, 2007) \u0096 ASP Women\u0092s World Tour Rookie Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) is on top of the world after winning the Rip … Continue reading “GILMORE RINGS THE BELL AND MOVES TO EQUAL FIRST ON ASP RATINGS”<\/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":[21],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-surfing-news-archive","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13572","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=13572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}