Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, took out the final stop on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour today, the Billabong Pro Maui, in clean four-to-six foot (1.5 metre) conditions at the iconic pointbreak of Honolua Bay over Sofia Mulanovich (PER), 26, clinching her third consecutive Billabong Pro Maui title after three years of competition at the premier event. Gilmore wrapped up her dominating season amongst the Top 17 by claiming her second consecutive Vans Triple Crown title today as well.

Gilmore capped the year off in appropriate form after claiming her third ASP Women’s World Title at the Gidget Pro Sunset Beach, when she advanced over Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 18, in the Semifinals, en route to defending her flawless record at the Billabong Pro Maui while claiming the prized Hawaiian specialty series and the beefed up $25,000 prize purse supplied by Vans.

“Once again, Maui has just been incredible and to win this event three times in a row is just awesome,” Gilmore said. “I couldn’t have been happier with the way things have gone today. Winning the Vans Triple Crown is definitely up there with winning the World Title and it’s definitely one of the biggest accolades of surfing professionally. I can’t believe it’s all happening again, it’s awesome.”

Gilmore absolutely dominated the day’s proceedings, blitzing the highest heat total of the entire 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour season by surfing a near-perfect heat of 19.67 out of 20 to usurp Samantha Cornish (AUS), 29, in her Quarterfinals heat before topping Fitzgibbons and Mulanovich en route to her second ASP Women’s World Tour win of 2009.

“I guess it’s a little surprising,” Gilmore said. “I would have thought that the highest heat total would have gone down yesterday with all of the barrels. Today there are still some rippable waves out there, but I don’t know. I just went surfing.”

Mulanovich campaigned through a lengthy day of competition, topping Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS), 23, Australian veteran Rebecca Woods (AUS), 25, and ASP Women’s World No. 2 Silvana Lima (BRA), 25, but was unable to top Gilmore for the victory and claimed a runner-up finish at the final event of the year to finish her season ASP Women’s World No. 3.

“It’s been a great day,” Mulanovich said. “Congratulations to Steph (Gilmore). She’s a champ and a hero to all of us and thanks to the sponsors of the event and my family and friends. It’s been a great event.”

Fitzgibbons navigated the Honolua Bay lineup with poise and maturity beyond her years and posted some amazing scores before falling in her Semifinals bout against Gilmore, but clinched an impressive heat victory over Coco Ho (HAW), 18, in the Quarterfinals on the way to her third place finish.

“I always love surfing heats with Coco (Ho),” Fitzgibbons said. “She always pushes my level up and I usually have my best heats with her. She’s also a really great friend. I wish there were more waves so we could have dueled a little bit more. She surfed amazing this year and my hat goes off to her.”

Lima, who smashed one of two perfect 10-point rides during the Billabong Pro Maui with amazing barrel riding in yesterday’s action, was in stellar form for the final day of competition, but was overtaken by former Peruvian ASP Women’s World Champion, Mulanovich, in the dying minutes of their Semifinals heat, taking a third place finish to wrap up her year while finishing ASP Women’s World No. 2 for 2009.

“The waves were a lot smaller than yesterday, but it was still good,” Lima said. “Sometimes the heats were slow, but the conditions were still great.”

For Billabong Pro Maui highlights, videos, photos and more log on to www.triplecrownofsurfing.com orwww.billabongpro.com

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com

Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines Final:

1 – Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 18.00

2 – Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 10.17

Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines Semifinals Results:

SF 1: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 16.03 def. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.94

SF 2: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 13.83 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 11.70

Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines Quarterfinals Results:

QF 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.83 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 15.83

QF 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 19.67 def. Samantha Cornish (AUS) 7.26

QF 3: Silvana Lima 16.70 def. Melanie Bartels (HAW) 7.20

QF 4: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 12.77 def. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 6.50

Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines Round 3 Result:

Heat 8: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.50 def. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 8.17

Final 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour ratings

1. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)

2. Silvana Lima (BRA)

3. Sofia Mulanovich (PER)

4. Coco Ho (HAW)

5. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)

6. Melanie Bartels (HAW)

7. Chelsea Hedges (AUS)

8. Paige Hareb (NZL)

9. Rebecca Woods (AUS)

10. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF)

11. Samantha Cornish (AUS)

12. Jacqueline Silva (BRA)

13. Alana Blanchard (HAW)

14. Bruna Schmitz (BRA)

15. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)

16. Amee Donohoe (AUS)

17. Megan Abubo (HAW)

The final stop on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour, the Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines, saw freshly-crowned three-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, and current ASP Women’s World No. 2 Silvana Lima (BRA), 25, lead the charge through a marathon day in pumping eight foot (2.5 metre) surf at Honolua Bay today while ping the event’s highest scores.

The Billabong Pro Maui is a critical event for several of the world’s finest female surfers’ campaigns towards requalification for the 2010 ASP Dream Tour and also marks the final stop of the prestigious Vans Triple Crown. Today’s thumping surf at Honolua Bay provided an excellent stage for the girls of the ASP Women’s World Tour to showcase their talents while striving to end their year on a good note.

Gilmore, who clinched her third consecutive ASP Women’s World Title at Sunset Beach, absolutely dominated her Round 3 heat over event wildcard Alessa Quizon (HAW), 15, crushing the day’s highest heat total of a near-perfect 18.80 out of 20 by capitalizing on the firing barrels at Honolua Bay.

“I’m not even here to do turns,” Gilmore said. “I’m probably on a way bigger board than all of the other girls, but it’s a place where you can take a really nice and get all stylish and try and pull into the tube. I’m just looking forward to the next round, I’m so excited.”

Gilmore, who has a perfect two-for-two record at the Billabong Pro Maui, is out to keep her flawless event record alive at the famed pointbreak and is hoping to take out her third consecutive Billabong Pro Maui win to cap off her impressive year while enjoying the pumping surf on offer this year.

“Three seems to be a pretty lucky number for me right about now,” Gilmore said. “I don’t know, I’m just so happy to be here in the most amazing waves we’ve had all year and the girls were charging. I just want to get barreled.”

With Vans Triple Crown forerunner Alana Blanchard (HAW), 18, falling in Round 3 of today’s competition, Gilmore is also hungry to claim a repeat Vans Triple Crown victory for 2009.

“We want action and drama for the Triple Crown and it’s going to be really great to see how it unfolds,” Gilmore said. “All of the heats are going to be full of action and there has been $25,000 put up by Vans for the winner and it’s going to be an exciting finish to the whole Hawaiian leg.”

Lima clinched the day’s only perfect 10-point ride when she drove through a freight training barrel. The Brazilian talent has had a stellar year on the ASP Women’s World Tour, clinching two event victories and was nearly lost for words due to today’s conditions.

“I feel great,” Lima said. “I loved that wave and I was sitting by myself thinking ‘Thank you God’ when that wave came in. I pulled into the barrel and I couldn’t believe I was coming out.”

Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 18, current ASP Women’s World No. 5, is fresh off of her first career final at Sunset Beach and dominated the Honolua Bay lineup to claim two heat victories while advancing through to the Quarterfinals with lengthy barrel rides and aggressive forehand carves.

“The waves were amazing in my Round 3 heat,” Fitzgibbons said. “It was better than earlier and cleaner and hitting the reef better. I saw a fair few barrels going unridden and I figured I’d better pull in. I went out and managed to get one of those inside ones and managed to get one of the best barrels of my life. I was pretty happy to have it here in the contest.”

Fitzgibbons, who is currently competing in her rookie year on the ASP Women’s World Tour, is thrilled to wrap up her first year amongst the world’s finest female surfers in flawless Honolua Bay conditions.
“It’s a pretty amazing day,” Fitzgibbons said. “We’ve woken up and it’s the best Honolua I’ve seen. I’m pretty amazed to have conditions like this for my first event at Honolua on the ASP Women’s World Tour. It’s pumping and I think a lot of the girls are excited and I’m happy to have a few good heats.”

Melanie Bartels (HAW), 27, who was the runner-up to Gilmore in last year’s Billabong Pro Maui, was relegated to Round 1 after a tough first heat, but crushed an amazing 17.50 out of 20 heat total in Round 2 before ousting Rosanne Hodge (ZAF), 22, in Round 3 to earn a Quarterfinals berth.

“I just wanted to go out there and get shacked,” Bartels said. “I’m so stoked that Billabong puts this contest on and we get to surf Honolua Bay with only a few girls out. It’s amazing and a dream come true. I’ve been watching this wave since I was little and I’m just stoked to be out there and surf and get barreled.”

The final heat of the day was compromised when a non competitor interfered with Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS), 23, in the dying minutes of her Round 3 heat against Sofia Mulanovich(PER),26.

“Water security lost control of the lineup and were unable to protect the contest zone from the 30 surfers who were intruding on the contest area,” Richie Porta, Billabong Pro Maui Head Judge, said. “Both surfers were interfered with by non competitors, hindering their chances on capitalizing on potentially heat changing waves.”

The matchup between Mulanovich and Miley-Dyer will be fully restarted with the heat’s original 30-minute time and will prior to Billabong Pro Maui Quarterfinals competition.

Bruna Schmitz (BRA), 19, and Nikita Robb, 20, have also solidified their spot on next year’s ASP Women’s World Tour due to the double qualification of Rebecca Woods (AUS), 25, and Paige Hareb (NZL), 19, who posted standout performances among the Top 17 and the ASP WQS.

Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7am for a possible 8am start. For all of the live scores, heats on demand and event photos, videos and more log on towww.triplecrownofsurfing.com or www.billabongpro.com

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 13.50, Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 8.90, Paige Hareb (NZL) 7.17
Heat 2: Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 12.67, Samantha Cornish (AUS) 12.33, Coco Ho (HAW) 10.53
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 13.00, Alessa Quizon (HAW) 7.07, Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 6.93
Heat 4: Silvana Lima (BRA) 15.33, Carissa Moore (HAW) 14.60, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 5.77
Heat 5: Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 12.84, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 9.37, Megan Abubo (HAW) 8.00
Heat 6: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 13.50, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 8.60, Melanie Bartels (HAW) 8.50

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Round 2 Results:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 14.50, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 11.37, Megan Abubo (HAW) 11.17
Heat 2: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 17.54, Paige Hareb (NZL) 8.83, Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 1.97

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Round 3 Results:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 13.94 def. Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 13.16
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.40 def. Alana Blanchard (HAW) 10.26
Heat 3: Samantha Cornish (AUS) 9.50 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 6.33
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 18.80 def. Alessa Quizon (HAW) 13.50
Heat 5: Silvana Lima (BRA) 14.33 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.50
Heat 6: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 12.43 def. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 9.10
Heat 7: Rebecca Woods (AUS) 14.00 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 9.90

Billabong Pro Maui pres. By Hawaiian Airlines Quarterfinal Match-Ups:
QF 1: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (HAW)
QF 2: Samantha Cornish (AUS) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
QF 3: Silvana Lima (BRA) vs. Melanie Bartels (HAW)
QF 4: Rebecca Woods (AUS) vs. TBD