Australia’s Mitch Parkinson has put on an outstanding performance to win the 2019 So Sri Lanka Pro, World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 3000 event in clean three-to-four foot surf at Arugam Bay. In the biggest win of his career, Parkinson dominated every heat he surfed with an amazing display of aerial surfing.
Gold Coast local Parkinson made it to the final with clutch performances all event, posting perfect and excellent scores in the final minutes of his heats to progress to the next round. In the Final, however, he did all the damage early, posting a perfect 10-point ride with his first wave. His second ever, the perfect score came from a huge, full rotation ‘alley-oop’ which he immediately backed up with a 9.17 for a huge air-reverse. This left his opponent Oney Anwar (IDN) chasing a two-wave combination of 19.17 for the lead.
“This last few days have been a dream – this whole event has been so much fun,” Parkinson said. “Oney and I have known each other since we were kids and are great mates. All week we were joking with each other just saying ‘I’ll see you in the final’ and then it happened and we couldn’t believe it. Sri Lanka is so awesome, I just love it here, and I’m definitely coming back with my girlfriend. I’m so over the moon.”
It’s been an event of milestones for Parkinson who has not been competing at many competitions in 2019. First, he scored his first-ever, perfect 10-point ride, then he scored his second 10, then his highest ever heat total in a WSL event. The biggest milestone though is taking out a QS3,000, the biggest win of his career.
“When I landed that first air I knew it was a perfect 10 because it just felt so clean then the second one felt good as well and all of a sudden Oney and I were looking at each other going ‘what just happened?’ I don’t really know what this result means, I’ll probably go to the Taiwan Open and see how I go there then access my seeding for some QS events next year. For now, I just want to soak it up.
Source: World Surf League
