Malia Manuel’s final mission of 2017 was about as demanding as could be asked, and although she came up short, the 24-year-old from Wailua, Kauai, is overjoyed at how far she came after a serious knee injury during the year.
Manuel was within striking distance of six-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia in the final of the Maui Women’s Pro on Friday and wound up placing second in the World Surf League season-ender at Honolua Bay. Gilmore held on for the victory — her fourth at Honolua and 26th on the championship tour — in the 4-foot waves.
“I was waiting there in the 40-minute final,” Manuel told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via cellphone after her runner-up showing. “I was thinking I’d get another one. I waited. Nothing rolled through. With a few minutes left, a set came in. I took the first one, but the second one that Stephanie took and bettered her score, was better. That’s the way she goes, the universe. … Didn’t want to give me another one. Mother Nature didn’t cooperate.”
Thanks to the 15.20 to 11.90 victory over Manuel in the final, Gilmore finished in second place in the WSL rankings, behind fellow Australian Tyler Wright, who wrapped up her second straight world title Thursday by winning her quarterfinal heat and watching four others — top-ranked Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia, Gilmore, Courtney Conlogue of Santa Ana, Calif., and three-time world champion Carissa Moore of Honolulu — falter in either the water or in the yearlong points standings over the final two days.
Gilmore got a measure of redemption against Wright by beating her in the semifinals earlier Friday.
“When I couldn’t win the world title, this was the next best thing,” said Gilmore, who earned $60,000 to Manuel’s $30,000, in a news release.
Three from Hawaii — Moore, Tatiana Weston-Webb and Coco Ho — requalified for next year’s championship tour, and they likely will be joined by Manuel, who is the front-runner to be the WSL’s wild-card selection due to her injury.
“This year was so interesting,” Manuel said. “I missed four tour events and a couple of qualifying series events while going through rehab. I didn’t surf for four months. I’ve never took that much time off in my whole life. I got a third in Portugal and a fifth in France. It was very motivating and made it pretty exciting, with all the anticipation coming to Maui.”
Zietz rolls on; Medina and Smith lose
Sebastian Zietz’s rail-to-rail carving and tube-riding was an eye-catcher at Sunset Beach on Friday, and it earned him a third-round victory, thanks to rides of 9.77 and 9.40 in the 10- to 12-foot, world-class surf at the Vans World Cup Surfing.
“If you (sit at) that inside bowl, you get a really good barrel,” Zietz, who hails from Kilauea, Kauai, told reporters. “And at Sunset, they really love to score the barrel. It’s a good tactic. Hopefully no one steals it.”
Two men’s world-title contenders — No. 2 Gabriel Medina of Brazil and No. 3 Jordy Smith of South Africa — were eliminated in the third round.
Early exits have been common lately for the four still in the chase for the world championship. No. 1 and defending champ John John Florence, who is not entered in the World Cup, was beaten in the quarterfinals last month in the Hawaiian Pro at his hometown break in Haleiwa. One other in contention for the world crown, No. 4 Julian Wilson of Australia, also is not surfing at the World Cup, a qualifying series event that does not have any bearing on the world-title standings.
Griffin Colapinto of San Clemente, Calif., who successfully surfed into the fourth round, is the new leader in the quest for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title, which goes to the best competitor in the three season-ending events combined. He placed second to Filipe Toledo in the Hawaiian Pro.
After the World Cup finals day today, conditions permitting, the focus shifts to the championship tour’s season-ender, the Billabong Pipe Masters, Dec. 8-20, where the world champion and Triple Crown winner will be determined.
