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20/08/2005:// Luke Stedman from Sydney, Australia today claimed his first ever WQS tour victory when he beat fellow countryman Nic Muscroft in the all-Australian final of the O’Neill Pro in Anglet, France. Stedman’s win netted him a prize haul of 12,000US$ and 2000 WQS tour points as well as a dream start to the critical European leg of the WQS tour. Nic Muscroft, surfing in his first WQS final was forced to settle for second banking 5,000US$ and 1720 tour points. Izuki Tanka from Japan also made ASP history at the event when he took joint 3rd position with Steve Clements (AUS). Izuki’s runners up spot was the best ever result achieved by a Japanese surfer in a WQS event.
To everyone’s surprise, the final day of competition was blessed with some quality 3 – 4ft waves at the break of les Plage des Cavaliers. The phantom swell, which mysteriously appeared over night, stayed in residence for the duration of the day and provided an epic finale to what has been, on the whole, a wave starved week of surfing. Soaring temperatures and blue skies magnetized the crowds to the beach to witness the culmination of the week-long event.
En-route to the final, Stedman, who is currently ranked 36th on the elite World Championship Tour, disposed of Adriano de Souza (Brz) and Izuki Tanaka (JPN) before meeting Muscroft in the 35 minute showdown. The man-on-man final meant that wave selection was crucial and Stedman drew on all his experience in such situations to take control from the opening exchanges. Stedman remained on top for the duration of the 35-minute final until the final horn drew the proceedings to a close and confirmed his first ever WQS victory. As he made his way back to the beach, a massive Australian contingent had lined the shoreline, mobbing both the boys and hoisting Stedman onto their shoulders for the victory march to the winners podium.
“I can’t believe I’m up here.” Began Stedman speaking from the shoulders of Jarrad Howse and Adam Robertson. “ I can’t even begin to explain how I feel, I’m so excited. The best part of all is that I have all my friends and family here with me and I’m so stoked to get a win in front of all the boys. It’s like a little boardriders club back home, surfing against Nic. He’s such a good surfer and I’m stoked to have been able to beat him. The conditions were pretty good. Definitely the best we’ve had all week. The tide is coming in and the waves are a little fatter than earlier which made it harder to surf but they’re still good waves. The contest director did such a good job to hold off the finals until today and then run longer heats for the quarters, semis and final. That really made the difference. I’m going to go celebrate now over in Hossegor, my friend’s band, the ‘Goons Of Doom’ are playing in a bar there so we’re going to head there and go nuts!” he added.;
Muscroft, who disposed of Shaun Cansdell (AUS) and Steve Clements (AUS) to bank his spot in the final, was continually on the heels of Stedman throughout last duel, but failed to maximize on the higher scoring waves, coming unstuck and falling on the bigger sets. However, the 2nd place result heralded a milestone in the talented Australian’s career who had struggled to lock in results in the past.
“I’m a little freaked out, it’s the first result I have ever had so I’m pretty blown away.” Began Muscroft. “There wasn’t so many waves in the final and Luke got a really good wave earlier on, an 8.3 ride or something and that, and it made it really hard for me to come back at him. Luke’s a legend so it makes it easier to loose to someone of his status. There’s so much Aussie support out there and that just pushes you forward…The European leg is the most important part of the tour so to get a result like this in the first event is an amazing start. Hopefully I can get on a role and bag a few more results like this.” He added.
The WQS tour now heads Northwards, up the coast to Lacanau for the 2nd event in the French trilogy. After a slow start to the week in Anglet, some creative formats and brave decision making paid off and ensured that the 11th O’Neill Pro climaxed in quality conditions. Contest director Matt Wilson summed up the weeks events.
“It was my first time as contest director in France and it was certainly challenging.” Began Wilson. “The conditions have been very tricky all week and we’ve had to give ourselves every opportunity to finish. In hindsight all the calls were pretty spot on. All week we’ve been looking at the charts and nothing in the way of decent swell has appeared so today’s waves were totally unexpected. But, what a perfect end to the week. Finishing the contest in waves like that was more than anyone dared hope for so we’re all pretty stoked.” He added.
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