Julian Wilson And Matt Wilkinson Just Called Out The WSL On Social Media

We’re used to seeing a bit of heat thrown around in the forums each contest as rounds progress and the upsets pile up, but nothing like the inferno we’ve seen over the last few hours. Ordinarily it’s just the die hard fans venting frustrations on the WSL’s decision to run a heat in certain conditions or that an athlete has been under/overscored during the event, however this time CT riders themselves and other significant surfing names are leading the discussion post day three at Lowers (go here for more detail on today’s event). 

The three match ups under scrutiny include round two heat one when Matt Wilkinson lost to Brett Simpson by 0.24 of a point (13.8 to 13.56), round two heat two that saw Julian Wilson go down to rookie Alex Ribero by a mere five hundredths of a point (14.87 to 14.83) (yesterday’s daily wrap here for more on those heats) and lastly round three heat seven which conjured the most criticism when Tanner Gudauskas beat a yellow-jersey-chasing Gabriel Medina by 0.21 of a point (the two waves most hotly debated featured above). 

Julian Wilson’s fired first on the WSL’s Instagram post commenting: 

“The Judges might need to take some responsibility for their scores over the past two days. Might be time to put them under the microscope, like they do to us.”

Jules then went on to post his own Instagram with the accompanying caption: 

“When sleepless nights, countless hours of preparation and learning hard lessons from past upsets, it’s hard not feel frustrated when not getting rewarded in key moments like this. Might be time to break down what the judges see and understand as good surfing in comparison to what the best surfers in the world see and understand as good surfing, as it could be a little different? @wsl @mattwilko8@gabrielmedina“

Ex tour leader Matt Wilkinson replied on the post:

“It is hard to accept when they make decisions that decide people’s lives and don’t take care to make the decision right and are not at all held accountable.”

Veteran surfing icon Tom Carroll also commented:

“Right with you @Julian_Wilson this was a blatant hiccup for @wsl judging system. I feel deeply for @mattwilko and the look in his eyes during post heat interviews.”

Hawaiian aerial freak Matt Meola posted is own Instagram, with a little more fire:

“Wow this is just plain fucked up. As bad as I want jj to win the world title, I still think this was the worst call I’ve seen in surfing!!!! If tanners wave was an 8.67 please tell me how @gabrielmedina was an 8.30?!?!?! @wsl come on guys!!! Not cool!!! Such a blatant rip off !!!!”

The commentary teamed discussed the result during the daily wrap segment, aware that controversy had already ensued after the results were posted.

“This is going to be one of those heats that is going to be debated throughout the entire season,” said Pete Mel. “I felt that score, that wave at the end was enough for Gabriel Medina to turn the heat, of course everyone’s got an opinion, my opinion was that Gabriel Medina had this one… I thought it went nines.”

“To me, in the water, my first reaction to it was that I was shocked, honestly absolutely shocked,” Strider Wasilewski stated. “When I watched this wave from the back all I saw was fins and spray…”

Joe Turpel was more diplomatic highlighting the technical results of the judging, “Five judges on the panel, two judges clearly in favour of Tanner, one judge just by a tenth of a point in favour of the local boy, two judges had it on Medina on tie-break decisions, one on the highest single score.” 

This is certainly going to be a thread worth following.