2016 WSL Billabong Pro Teahupoo Betting Tips
Event Window: Friday 19th August – Tuesday 30th August
Location: Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Tahiti is known as a spot for honeymooners, fresh fish, exotic fruits, green picturesque mountains and blue hollow reef breaks. The small village called Teahupo’o is situated on the south west coast of French Polynesia, and is now home to the WSL Billabong Pro which erupts on August 19th and continues onto the 30th.
Teahupo’o pronounced (cho-po) or nicknamed “chopes” is one of the most incredible waves on the planet. Chopes can hold huge swells reaching 20 foot plus, and when it hits the shallow reef it creates a beautiful blue spectacle of raw power and energy. I believe Chopes and Pipeline are two of the most entertaining contests throughout the tournament, because it truly relies on the drop. If you survive that then you can setup for a thick lipped barrel, which is difficult to control because of the force and the suck from the reef. Teahupo’o doesn’t create much opportunity to set up for moves such as cutback, floaters or aerial maneuvers, the left hand reef break is entirely about dropping into the giant blue abyss and hopefully exiting without being slammed onto the reef.
The championship race is surely heating up, but with still five contests remaining it’s still anyone game. Matt Wilkinson still leads the contest despite bowing out in the third round at J-Bay, but he did fly out early to Tahiti after the contest to prepare for the next compelling challenge. John John is red hot coming off a runner up at J- Bay. His slow start to the year has certainly excelled, since Rio he has had three final appearances including the victory in Rio, a quarter final exit in Fiji and a runners up in J- Bay against the reigning world champ Fanning. Can the Hawaiian keep up his form coming into this event?
Behind John John lies a hungry Medina who won the event in 2014 and came runners up to Jeremy Flores in 2015. Medina loves to come up with all guns blazing, usually catching the first wave of his heats to put pressure straight on the other competitors. From what we saw in Fiji, Medina is one of the best tube riders in the comp and will be hard to beat especially if the waves are pumping.
Kelly Slater has been a solid competitor throughout the years at Tahiti. He has won the contest four times since the tournament began in ‘99, his latest being in 2011 when he beat injured Owen Wright in the final. He also managed two runners up in the last two years to his disgust. This year has been different for Slater who is yet to record a victory in 2016, but came relatively close in J- Bay with a quarter final exit. I dare say if the waves were consistent in J-bay it quite possibly could have been a different story. He will definitely provide some headaches in the heats and I’m guessing we will see some fireworks from the Cocoa Beach native at some point throughout the contest.
- Tip: Gabriel Madina to win outright - $6 at CrownBet
- Tip: Kelly Slater to win outright - $10 at CrownBet
