As the Top 17 await bigger waves in Portugal, Pete Mel and Rosy Hodge dive into the Championship battle, upcoming heats, and more.
With a rejuvenated schedule committed to quality venues (including the addition of Fiji, Trestles and Honolua Bay) and an unprecedented level of athleticism, the 2014 ASP Women's World Championship Tour (WCT) is at its most competitive juncture ever.
As the Tour's surfers prepare for their second-to-last competition of the year, the Cascais Women's Pro in Cascais, Portugal, the Top 4 in contention for the World Title are separated by just 3,200 points. Each surfer, including Australians Sally Fitzgibbons, Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright and Hawaiian Carissa Moore, has won two events this season and is within reach of winning the 2014 ASP Women's World Title.
The five-time World Champ reaches perfection as she takes the title at the first women's WCT event at Trestles.
Gilmore, however, is the only one of them who could win the World Title (potentially her sixth) this week in Portugal. Her crowning there would be possible only given a specific scenario:
Gilmore would need to win the event, with Wright finishing fifth or lower, and Fitzgibbons and Moore finishing third or lower.
If things do play out in Gilmore's favor, her points would be unbeatable regardless of what happens at the Target Maui Pro, the last women's event of the season. It should be noted that Gilmore will be entering that event as the defending champion.
Underpinning that scenario is the ASP rule that allows athletes to drop their lowest two results of the season from their year-end points totals. For Gilmore, that would mean currently dropping her 13th- and fifth-place finishes, leaving her with the best results of the Top 4 women on the WCT at present.
Sally Fitzgibbons, Tyler Wright and Carissa Moore open up about one of the tightest Title races in World Tour History.
With a potential 20,000 points up for grabs for victories in Portugal and Maui, and the closest ASP Women's World Title race in history, the culmination of the 2014 season will be a hard-fought battle with historic results.
Tune in to the Cascais Women's Pro LIVE daily on this site to catch the high-stakes action from Portugal. The event window for the contest is October 1-7, 2014.
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Stephanie Gilmore, five-time ASP Women's World Champion, opened the 2014 season with a win at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast in front of a raucous hometown crowd.
- WSL / Kirstin Scholtz
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Carissa Moore, reigning two-time ASP Women's World Champion, took down the field at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro.
- WSL / Kelly Cestari
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Moore went back-to-back early in the 2014 season, collecting wins at Margaret River and then the Rip Curl Women's Pro Bells Beach.
- WSL / Kirstin Scholtz
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Sally Fitzgibbons threw her hat into the 2014 race for the ASP Women's World Title with a win at the Rio Women's Pro.
- WSL / Smorigo
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Fitzgibbons goes back-to-back with wins at the Rio Women's Pro followed by the Fiji Women's Pro held in the biggest surf of the season.
- WSL / Steve Robertson
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Tyler Wright saw a late surge in this year's race for the title with a win at the Vans US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.
- WSL / Rowland/ ASP Handout
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Stephanie Gilmore put in one of the most electric performances of the season during the Final of the Swatch Women's Pro at Trestles and vaulted herself firmly back into the 2014 title race.
- WSL / Kirstin Scholtz
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Tyler Wright blitzed the Roxy Pro France Final, racking up four 9-point-plus rides to open the bout, and move into 2nd on the ASP Women's WCT rankings heading into Portugal.
- WSL / Damien Poullenot/ Aquashot
Title Race: How Gilmore Can Win It in Portugal
WSL
With a rejuvenated schedule committed to quality venues (including the addition of Fiji, Trestles and Honolua Bay) and an unprecedented level of athleticism, the 2014 ASP Women's World Championship Tour (WCT) is at its most competitive juncture ever.
As the Tour's surfers prepare for their second-to-last competition of the year, the Cascais Women's Pro in Cascais, Portugal, the Top 4 in contention for the World Title are separated by just 3,200 points. Each surfer, including Australians Sally Fitzgibbons, Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright and Hawaiian Carissa Moore, has won two events this season and is within reach of winning the 2014 ASP Women's World Title.
Gilmore, however, is the only one of them who could win the World Title (potentially her sixth) this week in Portugal. Her crowning there would be possible only given a specific scenario:
Gilmore would need to win the event, with Wright finishing fifth or lower, and Fitzgibbons and Moore finishing third or lower.
If things do play out in Gilmore's favor, her points would be unbeatable regardless of what happens at the Target Maui Pro, the last women's event of the season. It should be noted that Gilmore will be entering that event as the defending champion.
Underpinning that scenario is the ASP rule that allows athletes to drop their lowest two results of the season from their year-end points totals. For Gilmore, that would mean currently dropping her 13th- and fifth-place finishes, leaving her with the best results of the Top 4 women on the WCT at present.
With a potential 20,000 points up for grabs for victories in Portugal and Maui, and the closest ASP Women's World Title race in history, the culmination of the 2014 season will be a hard-fought battle with historic results.
Tune in to the Cascais Women's Pro LIVE daily on this site to catch the high-stakes action from Portugal. The event window for the contest is October 1-7, 2014.
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