Surfing: Kiwi teen eliminates world champ

Kiwi Sarah Mason caused a massive upset when she defeated ASP World No 1 Stephanie Gilmore today. Photo / ASP, Kirstin Scholtz

New Zealand 15-year-old Sarah Mason pulled off a colossal upset by eliminating Australian world champion Stephanie Gilmore from the women's world surfing championship tour event off Taranaki today.

Mason and compatriot Paige Hareb both advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will meet later today, but it was the last-gasp performance of Mason that drew hoots and screams from a sizeable crowd at New Plymouth's Fitzroy Beach.

Needing a score of 6.56 on her final wave with two minutes remaining to catch three-time world champion Gilmore, tour debutant Mason managed 7.10 off a long ride that included two inside moves and finished with a sharp hook where she did well to remain on the board.

That pushed Mason's total to 14.03, pipping Gilmore's 13.66 and recording one of the biggest imaginable boilovers on the Dream Tour.

The diminutive Mason received a wildcard invitation on the eve of the event and finished a fighting last in her first round heat on Tuesday. She survived the subsequent elimination round to advance to today's third round where few gave her a chance against Gilmore.

Quality waves deserted her until the final six minutes of the 30min heat, where she recorded her two scoring rides. By contrast, Gilmore did all her scoring early in the inconsistent 1-1.5m waves.

Gilmore had won the first two legs of this year's Tour and today's defeat was her first to anyone for nearly six months.

The scale of the win wasn't lost on Mason.

"I'm buzzing right now, I couldn't really believe it could happen at the end of the heat," she said.

"I was just waiting for a wave to come out there and get the score I needed.

"I've got heaps of confidence now going into the last heat."

She said crowd support was a massive boost throughout the heat, encouraging her to chase the decisive wave.

"Just hearing the cheering, I've never really heard that before. It's really cool."

Gilmore was stunned by Mason's late charge.

"I got an ok score but I guess I let my guard down and underestimated the little tucker," she said.

"Right at the end the end there she got the score and good on her. To lose in the third round is hard to take but it's all part of the deal I guess.

"This is going to open it up for the other girls to pick up some points and keep it interesting, I guess."

Hareb was less stressed in beating Australian Rebecca Woods, scoring 13.83 to 8.07 in a heat which the Taranaki local always led.

It was sweet revenge for Hareb, 19, who was eliminated by Woods at the same stage on the first two legs of the world championship, both in Australia.

It sets up a classic home town quarterfinal featuring Hareb, in her second year on the Dream Tour, against New Zealand Open champion Mason, who grew up in Taranaki but is now based on Queensland's Gold Coast.

The quarterfinals will feature two New Zealanders, two Australians, two Hawaiians and two South Americans.

Red-hot Australian Sally Fitzgibbons was the top qualifier from the third round - as she was from the first round - with a score of 18.07 to outclass South African Rosanne Hodge. Fitzgibbons' best wave score of 9.40 was the best of the event so far, pipping her first round effort of 9.33.

Hawaiian rookie Carissa Moore recorded an impressive 17.00 in ousting compatriot and world No 4 Coco Ho.

Other third-round winners were Hawaiian Melanie Bartels, Peru's Sofia Mulanovich, Australian Chelsea Hodges and Brazilian Silvana Lima.

Earlier today, organisers were happy to move the event's location to the No 1 beach at Fitzroy after being forced to use an isolated location south of New Plymouth for the first two rounds. Competition on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday was postponed because of inadequate conditions.

- NZPA