Chunky Barrels and perfect 10's in Rio

Nobody ever really doubted that Slater was still at the top of his game, as evidenced by his performance in round five of the 2014 Billabong Rio Pro.

Nailing a perfect ten for this ride, he simply takes off, pulls into a super tight barrel and breaks out through the whitewater. Of course raising his hands in triumph to claim it. When you consider the conditions were a messy brown 3-5 foot, with chunky closeouts on almost every wave, it’s a big ask to tuck into a barrel, let alone pull out again.

It wasn’t enough to win him the event though, Michel Bourez, a Tahitian surfer currently ranked fourth in the world was that man. Edging out Kolohe Andino from the US by doubling his score. Kelly placed fourth after losing to Andino in the semi’s.

Our very own Sally Fitzgibbons took the womens title, defeating Carissa Moore from Hawaii (just!) with a near perfect score of 9.27 in the finals. She got there by smashing fellow Aussie Tyler Wright in the semi’s with some classy rotations and hard carves. Go Aussies!

There’s only two weeks to go until the ASP Fiji Pro, at the world famous Namotu, Tavarua. Will Slater defend his title? We’ll bring you the details either way…