Well, that’s it for the World Title race….

I’ve got to admit, I had hoped it wouldn’t be decided today. Once the World Champion is crowned, the rest of the event always seems a little anticlimactic. It didn’t happen all at once of course. Round three progressed as expected with all the top seeds winning their heats. The first hiccup occurred in round 4. Kelly Slater needed to win his heat to keep his title hopes alive. Even paired up with an on-fire Kai Otton, most bets would have been on Kelly rising to the occasion and continuing towards the final. However, while Kelly sat patiently on the rights waiting for a wave to allow a high score, the goofy-footed Kai tore apart a couple solid lefts leaving Kelly needing a combination to advance. Kelly uncharacteristically lost with little more than a 6 point total, but returned to the beach still a crowd favorite.

Taj was able to pull through his round 4 heat. He was not so lucky in the quaterfinal however. It was a seesaw battle that saw Taj needing just a small score until Tom Whittaker scored something in the excellent range (forgive me for not remembering the exact score, it has been two consecutive very long days) that ended Taj’s title hopes.

There was no time to celebrate immediately as Mick was already in the lineup awaiting the start of his Semifinal against good friend Joel Parkinson, although as soon as Taj’s loss was official, there was an emotional hug in the lineup between friends. One might think the new world champion would be less than concerned with his performance at that point. On the contrary, for some reason Parko looked a little shaky. Mick was obviously elated and showed it in his surfing earning two excellent scores (one 8 and one 9 as I recall) which combo-ed his good mate Parko who came in three minutes early to prepare to hoist Mick up the beach on his shoulders.

Semifinal two was fought between the two world title deciders, Kai Otton and Tom Whittaker with Kai able to stay on top until the hooter sounded. By the time the final paddled out, both surfers could claim a very emotional day. Rookie, Otton looked tired but happy to earn the best result of his career. They had both surfed 4 heats already. Even Mick finally looked a little worn out. This was his day completely and on the strength of his opening ride, which scored an 8, he also claimed the event trophy to go with his World Title. Congratulations to Mick Fanning the Hang Loose Pro Champion and of course 2007 Fosters ASP Men’s World Tour Champion!