It was only a QS1000, and the waves were a far cry from the fabled tunnels that the Point is known for, but the final day of the Flight Centre Burleigh Pro still managed to produce some entertaining clashes on its way to crowning the event champs.
With a small, bumpy, short-period wind swell on offer, finalists in both the men’s and women’s divisions caught a stack of waves and made sure that each encounter went down to the wire.
On the men’s side, Indonesian surfer Oney Anwar used an inverted and ultra-quick air-reverse as his weapon of choice, stomping a number of solid rotations in his semi-final win over Gold Coast junior Quinn Bruce. He then drew on the move again in the final, combining it with fast, down-the-line forehand belts to edge out Stanwell Park flyweight Kalani Ball by less than a point in the last few minutes. The win comes as the second QS victory of Anwar’s career and is made all the more impressive by the fact he overcame a draw featuring past and present CT surfers Bede Durbidge, Mitch Crews and Ricardo Christie.
For Ball, the runner-up finish is his second in a week, after the stylish young natural-footer was defeated in the final of the QS1000 at Maroubra by American Cam Richards. Although he would’ve no doubt liked to have broken through for a win at Burleigh, the South Coast native will be feeling confident with back-to-back finals’ appearances. And while it’s too early to draw comparisons to Ethan Ewing’s dream run in 2016, things are looking promising for Ball, who’s currently ranked second on the QS and whose surfing brings to mind a young Taj Burrow.
In the women’s final, last year’s world junior champ Isabella Nichols matched up against current world junior champ and form surfer of the summer, Macy Callaghan, for a see-saw battle that eventually went Nichols’ way. Coming off an incredible run of victories, Callaghan started the final strong and built on her scores throughout, but in the end, Nichols’ wave selection and vertical approach was enough to put a stop to Macy’s winning streak. In a testament to the level of surfing the two Aussies were putting on in the junky conditions, both girls had eight-plus rides that didn’t feature in their combined score line.
The Aussie leg will now move on to the Tweed Coast Pro at Cabarita which kicks off on the 1st of February.
