Jessica Becker Wins Rio WWT

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Day six of competition, the final day of Rio Bodyboarding International 2013, saw the conclusion of the Women’s Grand Slam series portion of this event. The morning began with round seven and ran straight through the final with the Brazilians dominating the competition for the day. Highlights included the elimination of #1-ranked, defending 2x World Champion and defending RBI event champion Isabela Sousa at the hands of former 5x World Champion Neymara Carvalho in the quarterfinals. Also in the quarterfinals, Jessica Becker defeated #2-ranked Emma Cobb (Australia).The semifinals and final would be an all-Brazilian affair that, also, became a battle of generations. Former 5x World Champion Neymara Carvalho faced off against former 2x World Champion Soraia Rocha in semifinal one, while current generation riders Nicole Calheiros and Jessica Becker squared off in semifinal two. Coming off of her explosive performance from the day before, Jessica Becker continued to look very impressive. She would move past Calheiros in the semis, and dominated Rocha in the final.

Becker scored a 6.5 and an 8.0 within the first ten minutes of the final, putting the former world champion into combination situation. Despite a valiant effort from Soraia Rocha, she just was not able to overcome the deficit. Jessica advanced through nine heats, registering the highest individual wave score (9.5) and highest combined heat score (18.5) of the entire event during the week-long competition. The end result of her efforts? Jessica Becker is the Rio Bodyboarding International 2013 Women’s Champion.