BY HAWAII REPORTER
Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, 18, won the first stop in the 2011 ASP Women’s World Title season in Australia Monday, beating teenage sensation Tyler Wright in a hotly contested final.
Moore beat Wright 15.34 to 14.37 at the Roxy Pro, with commentators saying the event set a new standard in high-performance surfing for women.
The win at the Snapper Rocks surf venue on Australia’s Gold Coast was the fourth elite win for Moore, who graduated from Punahou School last year. Moore proved a skilled competitor in the final, using wave priority to drop in on Wright on what could have been a championship ride.
“It’s been an amazing finish to the event and the waves were so good for us today,” Moore said. “If I didn’t have priority and hadn’t dropped in on Tyler (Wright) on that wave, then she probably would have gotten the score and won the heat. It’s been an incredible event for me and I’m excited for the year ahead.”
Besides Wright, 16, Moore beat a number of top female surfers on the way to the final, including Sally Fitzgibbons and Chelsea Hedges. Moore also took the title of fastest woman surfer, clocking a speed of 46.7 kilometers an hour (29 MPH) on one wave.