It’s not often that an entire WCT event runs in five days straight. But in a dream destination like Fiji, anything is possible–and that’s exactly what happened.
Owen Wright finished strong with a history-making two perfect heats, dominating the fifth day of competition and taking home the trophy. While there have been seven perfect heats in other events in years past, Wright was the first to have two.
The Road to the Final
The first heat of the day set a fast pace. Julian Wilson stayed true to form and took the win over the rookie goofy-footer Italo Ferreira, who took out Cloudbreak King Kelly Slater in round five.
Ferreira led the heat for quite a while, racking up medium wave scores. But after Wilson scored a 9.43, Ferreira just couldn’t catch up, chasing him all the way to the buzzer with two 8-pointers in the last 10 minutes.
In heat three, Owen Wright showed up as the underdog but was still riding with confidence from his perfect heat in round five, managing to better Joel Parkinson and move into the Semifinal.
Parkinson rode the first wave of the heat at 10 minutes in, pulling into a small barrel and then wrapping back to the pocket and following up with a few more turns for a 7.17, his best wave score of the heat.
Wright waited patiently for 20 minutes before dropping into his first wave. After checking all the boxes for variety–starting with a huge carve, pulling into the barrel, throwing the fins loose and even getting a little air on the inside–he was rewarded with a 7.67.
With priority, Parkinson took the first wave of a set with eight minutes left and pulled out right away giving the second wave to Wright who grabbed an 8.93 tube ride and the win.
The first semifinal heat was slow and uneventful. Wilson took out Taj Burrow with an 11.50 heat total.
Then, in heat two, Wright was back in the water up against Jeremy Flores in a goofy versus regular barrel-fest that came down to a 0.36 heat score difference when the buzzer sounded.
Wright started off quick, dropping in and using both hands to drag himself into the pit and camp out for a bit, picking up a 9.43 from the judges. But Flores answered back, using what has become his signature grab-rail bottom turn to pull up into the tube. He set his sights high and just barely squeezed out at the top of the wave, earning an 8.00. For a moment, Flores even took the lead backing that one up with another barrel worth 8.57.
Almost immediately after, though, Wright made a late drop, fading deep into the tube and finishing with two solid hacks. With a 7.50, it was just enough to see Wright into the final over Flores who had his best finish on the CT since his win back in 2010. With that he moves into the No. 10 spot in the rankings.
Owen Wright’s Second Perfect Heat
Continuing with the same strategy he had in his semifinal heat, Wright grabbed a wave right off the bat. Starting off with an aggressive jam on the open face, he scrubbed all his speed to get some cover up and then threw it into high gear, pumping through the racing section to make it out in time to throw a stylish laid-back snap for a 7.50 wave score.
A few minutes later Wilson, trying to answer back, did an almost identical mid-face jam to set up for the tube. Grabbing rail, he hunkered down and for an exit route, but just couldn’t make it out before it smashed him on the head.
It was amazing to see that huge jam-to-stall technique executed by a goofy-footer and then a regular-footer back-to-back, proving that the forehand pump can be a huge advantage.
Wright picked off another gem at the 20 minute mark, with a huge 9.60 barrel, standing tall in the pit and then finishing with some clean turns, which put Wilson in a combo situation.
With five minutes left on the clock, Wright dropped into a bomb. Avoiding Wilson on his bottom turn, he climbed to the top to deliver a massive turn off the lip before finding yet another barrel section, this one just as massive as some of Wright’s perfect 10s the day before. Escaping through the doggy door, the judges agreed and Wright landed his third perfect 10 of the event and fourth for the year.
Then, before WSL Commentator Martin Potter even had time to finish asking, “Can we see history, where Owen Wright can get two heats with two perfect 10 rides?” Wright was dropping into another one. Pulling right back into the tube, he got as deep as you can get at Cloudbreak, and pumping as hard as he could, he came flying out the end screaming. With no doubt in anybody’s mind, the judges rewarded him with yet another perfect 10.
History was made and Wright is now the first and only surfer to earn two perfect heats in an event.
Congratulations Owen Wright!
