Julian Wilson pulled of the shock of the round as he defeated current ASP world No 6 Bede Durbidge at the Quiksilver Pro France in Hossegor, before conditions forced the cancellation of the day’s action after just three second round heats.
Wilson sits a massive 71 places below his opponent in the world rankings and needed a wildcard to even compete in France. However, he made light of that as he scored 11.44 to see off Durbidge, who could only manage 10.24.
“I got through so that’s a great feeling,” Wilson said. “It was a close one. I only needed a small score at the end and I knew I was going to get the opportunity and all I had to do was not fall off. In a World Tour event, you don’t expect to surf waves like that so I feel bad for Bede. Hopefully we can get better conditions for the next one.”
The Australian – who recently released his own surf movie – now has his sights firmly set on qualifying for the ASP elite 34 next year.
“I started my competitive year about halfway through,” Wilson said. “I had an injury at the start that I needed to take time to rehab. When I came back, I won a 6-Star in Sri Lanka which was amazing. When I came to Europe and was premiering my movie and didn’t really net a result. Hopefully I can get through a few more heats here and build some confidence to make a big push through the rest of the year.”
It wasn’t such a good day for Adriano de Souza however. The 23-year-old world No 7 had no answer as Gabe Kling pulled off the second shock of the day by beating the Brazilian.
Get the lowdown from the premiere of Julian’s new film, Scratching the Surface, right here.
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