![\"Kelly](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/dfcf90e5-3723-5497.jpg\")
\nPictured: 10-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), winner of the Nike US Open of Surfing.<\/p>\n
Nike US Open of Surfing
\nASP PRIME (Men\u2019s)
\nASP World Title (Women\u2019s)
\nASP 4-Star Pro Junior (Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s)
\nHuntington Beach, California, USA
\nJuly 30 \u2013 August 7, 2011 <\/p>\n
——————————————————————————–<\/p>\n
Kelly Slater and Sally Fitzgibbons Win Nike US Open of Surfing<\/p>\n
\nPictured: 10-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), winner of the Nike US Open of Surfing.<\/p>\n
Credit: ASP \/ ROWLAND<\/p>\n
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California \/ USA (Sunday, August 7, 2011) \u2013 Reigning 10-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (Cocoa Beach, FL), 39, has won the 2011 ASP PRIME Nike US Open of Surfing for the first time since 1996, defeating Yadin Nicol (AUS), 26, in a dominant final in two-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at the iconic Huntington Beach Pier.<\/p>\n
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 20, was also victorious today when she clinched the final stop on the 2011 ASP Women\u2019s World Title series, the Nike US Open of Surfing, when she topped dangerous wildcard Lakey Peterson (Santa Barbara, CA), 16, in a hard-fought battle.Slater quickly asserted his dominance in the Final against Nicol when he launched a frontside air-reverse and solidified the ride on the reform to earn an 8.50 and backed the ride up with a 7.77 to put the Australian in an early combination-situation and controlled the heat throughout the entirety of the bout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess Yadin (Nicol) wanted me to win because he didn\u2019t catch any waves,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI was just really frustrated for him because he was sitting out the back waiting for the big sets and the big sets were close outs. The small ones he was just two far outside and I got them. I think what happened is I got the 8.50 to start and he was just going to be patient. If he got a good one he would have thrown a big rotator, but it just never came.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slater went on an absolute rampage on the final day of competition and fought his way back into a tough battle to overtake progressive Hawaiian Dusty Payne (Lahaina, HI), 22, by launching a hail-mary, no-grab backside 360 air. The massive punt garnered the highest single-wave score of Nike US Open of Surfing competition, 9.77 out of 10, as well as the highest heat-total of 17.94 out of 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cDusty (Payne) had priority and he had gone on a couple of lefts that kind of fizzled out on him and he was probably thinking that left was going to do the same thing his other ones did,\u201d Slater said. \u201cIt just let me get going on the face enough and I just tried to rotate as hard as I could and somehow the board stuck to my feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicol fought hard throughout the entirety of the ASP PRIME competition, taking out dangerous South African Royden Bryson (ZAF), 28, and prodigious Californian Kolohe Andino (San Clemente, CA), 17, on the Final day of competition, but struggled to find a wave in the Final against Slater.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelly started off strong with the 8.5 and I thought I\u2019d wait for a good wave and I think I waited too long,\u201d Nicol said. \u201cAt the start of this week I wouldn\u2019t have thought that I\u2019d be in the Final with Kelly. I love it. Sometimes things work out and you make the Final and I\u2019m stoked, I\u2019m over the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yadin, who was rated No. 36 entering the US Open of Surfing, now sits at 27th on the ASP World Rankings, moving him inside the coveted ASP Top 32 midyear cut for the halfway mark of the year, but with two events remaining on the ASP World Title Season, Nicol remained guarded in claiming his spot for the final elite events. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still two World Tour events to go so it doesn\u2019t completely change my life just yet,\u201d Nicol said. \u201cIt definitely helps the vibe though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fitzgibbons, who finished second on the ASP Women\u2019s World Title Series, was strong on both her forehand and backhand in the final and fought off the determined wildcard to clinch her third elite event on to finish her 2011 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such an unbelievable feeling to get chaired up the beach,\u201d Fitzgibbons said. \u201cThere is just a sea of people and it\u2019s one of my biggest achievements. To get three wins this year, it has been a really special year and although I didn\u2019t get the title, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve won this event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fitzgibbons feels that there is more to come for the highly-talked about progressive movement in women\u2019s surfing and wildcards such as Lakey Peterson are a perfect example of the future of the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was just about connecting the dots and stepping it up,\u201d Fitzgibbons said. \u201cI think the future is bright for our sport. Lakey (Peterson) is only 16 and she was in both finals in this event it was a great week for her, but to get the win was an amazing way to cap off the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson proved to be a giant killer throughout the entirety of the Women\u2019s Nike US Open of Surfing, taking wins over veteran Melanie Bartels (HAW), 28, ASP Women\u2019s World Title Rookies Tyler Wright (AUS), 17, Courtney Conlogue (Santa Ana, CA), 17, and Laura Enever (AUS), 19, as well as freshly crowned ASP Women\u2019s World Champion Carissa Moore but was unable to find the scores needed to surpass Fitzgibbons in the Final. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m stoked with the way this week has turned out,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIt was an honor to surf against Sally (Fitzgibbons) and I\u2019m really happy to make the Final in my first World Tour event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson, who won the ASP 4-Star Nike US Open of Surfing Pro Junior yesterday, asserted herself as a frontrunner among the progressive movement of women\u2019s surfing via dominant run at the Nike US Open of Surfing. The young Californian was the only competitor to put a stop to Moore\u2019s run of finaling in every ASP Top 17 contest this season when she topped the Hawaiian in their Semifinals matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning yesterday was what I wanted to do, to win in the Juniors and do well in this event,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cMy heat against Carissa (Moore) felt like no pressure and I just wanted to go for it and I\u2019m just so excited to win that heat. I\u2019ve always wanted to surf against Carissa. She really pushes my surfing to the next level and is an amazing friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Highlights from the 2011 Nike US Open of surfing can be found at www.usopenofsurfing.com<\/p>\n
For media downloads log on to www.usopenofsurfing.com\/downloads<\/p>\n
For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n
The Nike US Open of Surfing was a massive action sports festival which also includes Skate, BMX, Art, Music and Fashion shows all of which are free to the public.<\/p>\n
Nike US Open of Surfing Men\u2019s Final Result:
\n1 \u2013 Kelly Slater (USA) 16.27
\n2 \u2013 Yadin Nicol (AUS) 12.40<\/p>\n
Nike US Open of Surfing Men\u2019s Semifinals Results:
\nSF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.94 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 14.90
\nSF2: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 13.44 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.87<\/p>\n
Nike US Open of Surfing Men\u2019s Quarterfinals Results:
\nQF 1: Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.93 def. Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 10.10
\nQF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.27
\nQF 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 10.44 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.33
\nQF 4: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 11.60 def. Royden Bryson (ZAF) 8.26<\/p>\n
Nike US Open of Surfing Women\u2019s Final Result:
\n1 \u2013 Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.23
\n2 \u2013 Lakey Peterson (USA) 12.40<\/p>\n
Nike US Open of Surfing Women\u2019s Semifinals Results:
\nSF 1: Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.67 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 14.60
\nSF 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.46 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 14.16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nike US Open of Surfing ASP PRIME (Men\u2019s) ASP World Title (Women\u2019s) ASP 4-Star Pro Junior (Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s) Huntington Beach, California, USA July 30 \u2013 August 7, 2011 ——————————————————————————– Kelly Slater and Sally Fitzgibbons Win Nike US Open of Surfing Pictured: 10-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), winner of the Nike US Open … Continue reading “Kelly Slater and Sally Fitzgibbons Win Nike US Open of Surfing”<\/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-13931","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\/13931","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=13931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}