After an extended break over the festive period, we now turn our attention to the first contest of the 2017 WSL Season. The Quiksilver Pro commences in the Gold Coast, Australia on the 14th of March and finishes on the 25th, before heading west to Margaret River.
Quicksilver Pro Betting Tips
The WSL contest in the Gold Coast dates back to 2002 when Joel Parkinson defeated American Corey Lopez, since then no one has won back to back finals. This contest has been dominated by the local Australian crowd, with the Aussies taking out nine of the fifteen contest over the years. Fanning and Parkinson have won two each while Slater enjoys causing an upset and will try and take out his fifth final. Gold Coast is usually surfed at Snapper rocks but can be pushed up or down the coast depending on swell. We may see a slow start with the swell looking to pick up later in the week.
If we rewind back to the start of last year Matt (Wilko) Wilkinson took out this contest and then backed it up by winning Bells. Wilko had a commanding lead early in the standings and really gave himself the best chance of taking the crown. Things seemed to change when he lost to Slater in Fiji and then all of a sudden he was on the back foot while John John Florence swooped in.
This WSL season could be one of the most competitive yet with Mick Fanning back this year after only surfing a handful of contests in the 2016 season and will be in one of the most entertaining heats of round one as he takes on Slater and Jeremy Flores. Owen Wright will be back in the lineup as well after suffered a traumatic head injury at pipeline at the end of the 2015 and ended up taking off the whole 2016 season. He meets Seb Zietz and youngster Ethan Ewing in heat 12 of round one.
At the end of last year we could already tell who would be a threat for the 2017 season. Kolohe Andino had a fantastic year, once ranked 25th he surfed his way to enter the top ten at the end of last year. Now ranked fourth expect the Hawaiian to turn heads this year as he would fancy himself a chance. Julian Wilson has been on tour for some years now, but you can tell that he's not far off. He combines power with freestyle and is one of the best taking flight. He is one of the best Aussie surfers on tour and if he stays consistent all year he can certainly cause some upsets.
This year looks to be one of the toughest so keep a close eye on all the action from the Gold Coast this week.
Tip: Mick Fanning to win the Quicksilver Pro - $8 at CrownBet
Here is how the market for the Quicksilver Pro looks at CrownBet.
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