New Zealand surfer Billy Stairmand has beaten 10-time world
champion Kelly Slater in a huge upset at an ASP Tour event in
Western Australia.
Stairmand, of Raglan, held his nerve to overhaul the American
legend and then hang on for a 16.50 to 15.50 win today.
It was achieved in three to four metre waves at the Margaret
River break south of Perth and put Stairmand into the final
12 of the $US285,000 ($NZ365,730) event.
Slater set the early pace with a 7.50 before Stairmand
equalled that soon after then scored a 9.00 with five minutes
of their man-on-man heat remaining.
That left Slater needing to better a 9.00 to snatch victory.
Instead, he scored a 6.93 and an 8.00 in a late flurry that
came up just short.
Slater made the unusual decision to contest this secondary
tour event because of the fantastic conditions and he wanted
practice ahead of the looming Rip Curl Pro, a Dream Tour
event at Bells Beach in Victoria.
Stairmand, 21, is no stranger to success having won a
six-star event on the secondary tour in Spain late last year
that signalled his potential.
Stairmand is ranked No 58 in the world and Slater is No 1 and
acknowledged as the greatest competitive surfer of all time.
Richard Christie, New Zealand's other surfer in the final 24
of the Western Australian event, also went close to pulling
off a major upset.
He fell 10.00 to 13.70 to Mick Fanning, Australia's double
world champion.
Taranaki's Paige Hareb is through to the quarterfinals of the
women's event which are likely to be contested tomorrow.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.