Emmanuelle Joli Thomas wins Nokia Pro WQS in Newquay

Emmanuelle Joli Thomas : photo Estpix/ASPEurope

Rip Curl Boardmasters
4 Star WQS Mens event

Nokia Pro
5 Star WQS Womens event
Fisral Beach, Newquay, UK
26 July - 3 August 2003

Emmanuelle Joli Thomas wins Nokia Pro

Emmanuelle Joly-Thomas of France surprised the crowd and higher ranked opponents by winning the Nokia Pro 5 Star WQS event at the Rip Curl Boardmasters. She started very slowly in the final, placed fourth and last for most of the first 10 minutes of the final, but then moved up to third and then second with consistent scoring.

Mainly operating off right-handers, she took the lead for the first time with 28 seconds to go when she needed a 6.4 and just scraped past with a 6.8 due to a number of slashing cutbacks. The current World No.3 from South Africa, Heather Clark, was beaten into fourth place and the two Australians, Neridah Falconer and Melanie Redman took second and third respectively.

Emmanuelle was ecstatic with her first ever win on the WQS which bettered her previous best performance of third in Hawaii back in 1995. After her win, she said, “I am very happy to have won this competition and would like to thank the event organizers, my sponsors and the other girls for letting me win!” Heather Clark made up for her fourth place by taking the Strongbow Money Move of the day.

Emmanuelle Joli Thomas : photo Estpix/ASPEurope

In clean glassy 4-foot waves and glorious sunshine, the Men’s 4 star WQS event kicked off the day with the last 32 competitors fighting for a place in the quarterfinals. The strong Australian dominated field proved too powerful for the 2 remaining British surfers.

Mark Harris was in a strong second place throughout the heat only to be knocked into third position in the last few minutes by Gustavo Fernandes of Brazil and Sam Lamiroy also found himself beaten into third place, dashing all hopes of a British quarterfinalist.

The semi finals for tomorrow sees an all Australian line up in one between Adam Robertson, Kai Otton, Bede Durbidge and Corey Ziems. The other semi is contested between Eric Rebiere and Gregory Pastusiak of France, Gustavo Fernandes of Brazil and Kepa Acero of Spain.

Kai Otton : photo Estpix/ASPEurope

The Garnier Fructis Style Extreme Vert skate competition got under way to arrange how the line-up would look for tomorrow and to see who would claim the last two places in tomorrows final. Andy Scott and Mattias Nylan took the last 2 spots available and Terrance Bougdour and Andy Scott had the huge crowd in the Fosters Beach Bar gasping with excitement with some big airs and smooth tricks.

The latest up to the minute scores can be found on the below. Another useful source of information on the event can be through the official event website – www.surffestival.com