It’s shaping up to be a good year. Photos: ASP/Kirstin
Rationally speaking, forty one percent (thirteen) of the thirty two surfers competing on the 2013 ASP WCT are legitimately capable of winning the 2013 ASP World Title. Meaning, the 2013 ASP WCT Title race appears to be more wide open than in any year in recent memory, creating the potential for the possibility of several exciting tour lead changes as the 2013 ASP WCT winds its way through Australia, Brazil, the South Pacific, California, Europe and ultimately concluding in Hawaii.
Several variables go into winning the ASP WCT Title. However, with the slate being clean for 2013, below is a list of 2013 ASP WCT Title Contenders, Realistic Hopefuls, and Dark Horses for consideration:
Contenders
Joel Parkinson, Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, John Florence, Adriano de Souza, and Taj Burrow.
There is not much of a reach in compiling and committing to a list of the current ASP WCT Title Contenders, it is (for the most part) the same usual suspects, and realistically we could see any one of these six surfers hoisting the World Title trophy over their head in 2013.
Realistic Hopefuls
Gabriel Medina, Josh Kerr, Julian Wilson, Owen Wright and Jordy Smith
Debate creeps its way in when we begin labeling the current Realistic Hopefuls for the 2013 Title. Both Gabriel Medina and Jordy Smith have completed a body of work on tour that would normally be considered worthy of World Title Contender consideration. In the case of Gabriel Medina, the barrier to overcome lies in the cold hard fact that the Tour is a regular footer’s world. Decades of domination by regular footers at the World Title, Event Win, and total spots on tour playing field, means that the goofy footers on tour will have to figure out a radically new approach before we will see a World Title win by a goofy footer. For Jordy Smith, hopefully coming off a down year (by Jordy’s standards) will be the motivation needed to see a return to his typically consistent event results for 2013. Another year without J-Bay (Jordy’s homeland and home break) as a CT event is a much bigger hindrance to Jordy’s World Title campaign than that of any other surfer currently on tour.
Dark Horses
Jeremy Flores and Adam Melling
2013 could well be a make or break year for Jeremy Flores’s competitive surfing career. After several injury plagued tours, he appears physically as strong as at any point in his career. Recent years have seen Jeremy charging big waves as hard as anyone on tour, so look for Jeremy to be a force to reckon with at any 2013 ASP WCT Events that are held in surf of consequence.
Super talented and highly touted by many, Adam Melling has yet to achieve his full potential on tour. Poor event results became characteristic for Adam during his 2012 WCT season. However, Adam occasionally show flashes of brilliant surfing that can match up against anyone on today’s tour.
So, with the start of the 2013 ASP WCT set to start on March 2nd at the Quiksilver Pro, the ASP WCT appears to have greater parity than ever, and seems primed for a banner year.
