BELLS BEACH: American surfer Courtney Conlogue has successfully defended her Bells Beach title, beating Australian Stephanie Gilmore in a pulsating final on Monday.
Conlogue scored a 9.00, the highest of the final, inside the last 10 minutes that gave her the lead.
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Courtney Conlogue wins at Bells
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American Courtney Conlogue has defeated Australian Stephanie Gilmore in the final at Bells Beach to defend her title. Vision courtesy www.worldsufleague.com
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Courtney Conlogue wins at Bells
American Courtney Conlogue has defeated Australian Stephanie Gilmore in the final at Bells Beach to defend her title. Vision courtesy www.worldsufleague.com
Gilmore was unable to post a last-minute score and Conlogue won 17.00 to 16.33.
"I'm speechless - that was amazing, the first time last year, and to follow up (against) someone like Steph, who's won it a lot of times, she definitely knows what she's doing," Conlogue said.
"It was tit-for-tat... it's such a great way to have a final."
Gilmore, the six-time world champion and three-time Rip Curl Pro winner, went into the final knowing she had taken over sole leadership of the world rankings, regardless of the result.
Conlogue was outstanding through the three finals rounds on Easter Monday, beating in succession Hawaiian Carissa Moore, Australian Tyler Wright and then Gilmore.
Between them, Conlogue's three Monday opponents have won 10 world titles.
Wright's broken board was costly in her semi-final loss to Conlogue.
The reigning world champion suffered the "creased" board in the last few minutes of the heat.
Immediately after Wright's mishap, Conlogue took the lead with the highest wave score of their heat, a 9.33.
The Australian had to return to shore and did not have time for another score.
Conlogue won the dramatic semi 18.33 to 15.00.
Wright has never won a Rip Curl Pro title.
Conlogue prevailed in a hard-fought quarters heat against Hawaiian Carissa Moore, the three-time former world champion and a three-time Bells winner.
Midway through their heat, Conlogue and Moore were paddling furiously side-by- side as they sought wave priority.
Conlogue eventually took out their quarter-final 16.56 to 15.33.
Gilmore dominated her Monday semi-final against American Lakey Peterson, winning 14.66 to 9.73.
Gilmore and compatriot Sally Fitzgibbons shared the world tour lead ahead of the Rip Curl Pro at Bells.
Earlier, Gilmore stormed back to form with an emphatic quarter-final win.
Gilmore was out of the water with more than a minute left in her heat against Johanne Defay, knowing she had an unbeatable lead.
The six-time world champion and three-time Bells winner had the highest score of the quarter-finals, winning 18.60 (out of 20) to 12.80.
Gilmore also had the two highest wave scores in the quarters, a 9.43 and a 9.17.
She was nearly eliminated two days ago in round four, needing a last-gasp score to beat Brazilian Silvana Lima.
Also on Monday, Fitzgibbons lost her quarter-final to Peterson.
Fitzgibbons ran out of time after Peterson took the lead with a late 7.53 wave score, giving her the win 15.86 to 15.60.
The Australian suffered a badly cut foot last Wednesday on day one of competition at the Rip Curl Pro.
She needed three stitches and then won her round-four heat two days ago.
Wright reached the semis with a win over Hawaiian Coco Ho.
AAP