Stu Kennedy beats John Florence! Wilko beats Adriano de Souza!

“Minimum I’ll be sitting third on the ratings, which is, like, not even imaginable for me at this moment,” laughed Stu Kennedy after yet another show-stopping win to move into the semifinals of the Quiksilver Pro. The victory came at the expense of Hawaiian prodigy and world number 15, John John Florence.

Struggling for sponsorship and crushingly short of qualifying for the World Tour at the end of 2015, Stu Kennedy’s professional surfing future had a dark cloud over it. Today, he is the talk of the World Tour, taking down a run of big names, including former world champs Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina on his way to at least a third place finish.

His latest victim, John John Florence, came in the most dramatic circumstances, Stu suffering under the Hawaiians’ priority right up to the final wave of the heat. The Australian took off within the final 30 seconds requiring a 7.33. He never looked like missing, decimating every available section with a barrage of power turns for an 8.33 and one of the upsets of the tournament.

“That last wave just a dream wave,” he said. “I was so glad John John went that first wave and didn’t get a big score on it. It looked like it had too much water on the bank for it.”

Stu up in those semis. WSL/Kirstin

“Those little second double-ups – the first three turns were a bit soft, I couldn’t drive off the bottom because of the foam. As soon as I got onto the open face, I was like don’t don’t do weak turns! Don’t do weak turns! Harden up! But yeah, such a dream run this event. One more to the final.”

The win was equalled for drama by Aussie Matt Wilkinson’s quarterfinal clash with reigning world champ, Adriano De Souza. Wilko was left out the back for an age with priority as the Brazilian once again applied the blow torch with a series of mid-range scores on inside runners. As the minutes turned to seconds, the ocean refused to cooperate and Wilko looked certain for a frustrating loss.

“It was six minutes to got, I needed a small score. I was thinking I’m alright, there’s gonna be some good sets. There were some weird wide ones that were fat, then none came. Three minutes to go, I’m still good, then one minute it looked like nothing was coming, I was like ahhhhh!”

Wilko, fuego. WSL/Kirstin

His prayers were answered inside the last minute with a less than ideal lump on the bank. It was enough for the NSW Central Coaster to put his rhythmic backside power game to work just doing enough to better the required 5.97.

“I took off and I was like, don’t blow it, had a few sections out the back lucky I kept it going and got a few sections on the inside,” he said.

In other results, Snapper local, Joel Parkinson went down to Toledo in a wave starved early morning heat. While Kolohe Andino easily outclassed Ace Buchan with another round-topping total, firming himself as a favourite to take out the event.

Kolohe jams into the semis. WSL/Kirstin