2011 Billabong Rio Pro

The 12 day waiting period for the 2011 Billabong Rio Pro started yesterday. There was a solid 6 foot swell in the water but the contest beach was all closeouts so they called a lay day. Today is a new day and the swell has dropped a little bit but there are some good clean waves for the first day of competition. The women are in the water now and the men might get in the water later today. We’ve got an injury update along with the first round heat matchups below.

An tweet from the guys over at Fantasy Surfer yesterday filled us all in on some of the top pros who won’t be making an appearance at the Billabong Rio Pro.

It’s interesting to see that Dane Reynolds is sitting this one out. We all know he’s still recovering from a knee injury that he suffered during the winter but he surfed a week or so ago at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro. Missing the first 3 events of the 2011 season does not bode well for Dane’s chances to be a world champ, especially with the way all the other guys are surfing.  Maybe his knee still isn’t 100% and he tweaked it at Lowers? Who knows. At least he’s got a nice brand new 6 year contract with Quiksilver to hold him over until he’s back in form.

Freddy P, as we know, is also suffering from a knee injury. I haven’t seen many updates about Patacchia status other then him saying that he’ll be out of the Rio contest along with both Brazil 6-Star PRIME events on his twitter account.

The same goes for Brett Simpson. He slightly tore his MCL between the Bell’s competition and the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro while fressurfing down in Mexico. According to a quote on ASPWorldTour.com, Simpo will be out 4-6 weeks as he recovers.

It’s crazy to see all these knee injuries. Maybe these dudes need to chill a little bit. With an almost 2 month break in between the end of this contest and the 4th stop at J-Bay hopefully these guys will be fully recovered and back in fighting form.

Until then, we’ve got plenty of action going on for the Billabong Rio Pro. Last year we saw local wildcard entry Jadson Andre defeat, the then 9x world champ, Kelly Slater in the final heat of the event. Jadson has made his presence known on tour now and there are a lot of other upcoming Brazilian surfers looking to do the same.

You can watch all the action live at billabongpro.com and be sure to check the event site along with SURFBANG.com for updates.

BILLABONG RIO PRO ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Bobby Martinez (USA)
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Adam Melling (AUS), Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS), Alejo Muniz (BRA), TBA
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS), Dusty Payne (HAW), TBA
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Patrick Gudauskas (USA), TBA
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA), Julian Wilson (AUS), TBA
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Jadson Andre (BRA), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA), Tiago Pires (PRT), Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF), Chris Davidson (AUS), Cory Lopez (USA)
Heat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 12: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Taylor Knox (USA)

BILLABONG WOMEN’S RIO PRO ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Tyler Wright (AUS), Courtney Conlogue (BRA), Claire Bevilacqua (AUS)
Heat 2: Silvana Lima (BRA), Paige Hareb (NZL), Felicity Palmateer (AUS)
Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW), Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS), Maya Gabeira (BRA)
Heat 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Laura Enever (AUS), Andrea Lopes (BRA)
Heat 5: Stepahnie Gilmore (AUS), Pauline Ado (FRA), Suelen Naraisa (BRA)
Heat 6: Coco Ho (HAW), Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Alana Blanchard (HAW)

2011 Billabong Rio Pro – Webisode #3

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