Jordy snags ninth in Australia

Cape Town - Despite a blistering performance in his fifth round heat at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Jordy Smith was eliminated by the slightest of margins against his Australian opponent, Julian Wilson.

Needing a near perfect 9.97 to advance out of the heat, Smith went to town on the best wave of the day, and performed a series of high-speed arcs and turns for what looked to all and sundry like a perfect 10-point ride.

As Smith exited the water everyone waited expectantly for the judges to show their scores, and it seemed like he was going to achieve the impossible as the first few judges all awarded Jordy with 10 points.

The last two judges however, dropped their scores to 9.8 and 9.7 respectively, dropping the mean score down to a 9.93, and leaving him 0.04 short of what he needed to advance.

The result sees Smith placed 12th in the world, and has left him with a way to go to get back to his Top 5 spot he occupied for most of last year.

The event was eventually won by current world champion Australian Mick Fanning, who defeated fellow Australian Taj Burrow in the final.

The next event on the World Tour is the Billabong Pro Rio where Smith is the defending champion.

Smith will no doubt be keen to get his second victory in Rio and to climb back up the rating.

The Billabong Pro Rio is due to run from May 7-18 and can be watched HERE