Morgan Cibilic (Merewether, AUS) and Sophie Fletcher (Phillip Island, AUS) claimed victory at the inaugural Mandurah Pro, following an exciting final day of competition in clean two-to-three feet waves at Avalon Point on Tuesday.
Cibilic proved unstoppable in Mandurah, claiming his maiden win on the elite World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS), defeating Duke Nagtzaam (Yallingup, WA) in a 30-minute men’s final.
Cibilic couldn’t put a foot wrong the whole event and used his lethal backhand attack to overcome event favourite and top seed Jacob Willcox (Margaret River, AUS) in the semi finals before continuing the onslaught against Nagtzaam.
Cibilic executed a barrage of giant backside snaps and took to the air, scoring an excellent 8.75 and 7.75 on his way to an impressive 16.50 heat total (from a possible 20).
“This is my first QS win ever and it’s my first QS final as well,” he said.
“The waves have been firing for the past couple of days and I’m over the moon to surf in the final with Duke who I’ve been travelling with this year.
“Words can’t really described that winning feeling I’ve got right now.”
Nagtzaam finished as the highest-placed West Australian male surfer, posting a career best result in the process.
“I’m really stoked, its so good to get a result at home,” he said.
“I’ve been trying to make a final for the past year and to finally breakthrough is so good.”
Sophie Fletcher also tasted success, capturing the biggest win of her career with victory at the first ever Mandurah Pro.
Fletcher was able to gain the upper hand against WA surfer Emma Cattlin (Yallingup) thanks to a decent 6.00 wave score for a series of strong backhand snaps.
Cattlin never gave up and despite her best efforts just 0.15 separated the two when the final siren sounded.
“This is my best result ever, and I couldn’t be happier,” she said.
“The waves have really turned it on, this is my first time to Mandurah and I’ll have fond memories of this place forever now.”
The Mandurah Pro was the opening event of the Western Australia Pro Surf Series, which continues next in Yallingup with the Cape Naturaliste Pro waiting period set to commence on Thursday and run through to Sunday.
“It’s been great to see Mandurah turn on some great waves for this event and I congratulate our two champions,” Surfing WA events manager Justin Majeks said.
“Thanks to the great support of the local community we look forward to bringing professional surfing back to Mandurah bigger and better in 2019.”
