Adriano de Souza defeated Kelly Slater in the final of the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal, vaulting from No. 6 to No. 3 in the ASP World Tour rankings and positioning him fairly prominently in the race for the world title.
The only problem with this scenario is that Slater, by posting yet another high finish, further widened his points lead and needs only a ninth-place or better at the next event -- the 10th of 11 on the schedule -- to clinch an astonishing 11th world title.
That's only two heat victories and Slater, 39, would probably enjoy winning the title in San Francisco, site of the next competition, instead of carrying the race to the season-finale in Hawaii.
Not to take anything away from De Souza. The 24-year-old Brazilian has enjoyed a solid year and has a strong chance to improve on his career-best No. 5 ranking (2009). On the final day of the Rip Curl Pro at Supertubos in Peniche, he took down Travis Logie, Michel Bourez and Bede Durbidge to reach the final.
He opened the final, held in three- to five-foot surf, with a 9.00 after navigating a deep forehand barrel. De Souza ultimately prevailed in the final minutes with a best-two-waves score of 15.67 to 14.73.
Afterward he explained how he felt about beating the world's most dominant pro surfer, and the second-oldest competitor on the World Tour.
"Kelly has been my hero since I ever heard about surfing," De Souza said. "He is a living legend and to be competing against him at this level is more than a dream come true. He has pushed me more than any other surfer and I owe him a lot."
Slater, who has experienced every type of conditions since his rookie season, explained his fondness for the hollow waves at Supertubos.
"I can’t remember a time when we’ve had so many 9s and high 8s and we’ve all just got barreled off our heads for three days straight," he said. "It’s been pretty amazing. Unfortunately, there was really only that one good one in the Final and I made a priority mistake and let Adriano have it. It’s obviously a good result for me and it makes things harder on everyone else. Let’s hope for good conditions in San Francisco."
Good conditions or not, Slater should claim another title, and discussions again will center around when he might retire from competitive surfing. This is just a guess, but Slater, who already is the youngest and oldest surfer to win a title, would probably like to win one at the age of 40, so expect him to stick around for one more year.
-- Pete Thomas
Photos showing Adriano de Sousa after emerging from a barrel early in the final against Kelly Slater (top) and Kelly Slater preparing for the heat are courtesy of © ASP/ Kirstin
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