Kirra Belle-Olsson wins Australian Open of Surfing at Manly months after shark attack
Kirra-Belle Olsson was out on one morning in October 2014 at her home break, Avoca Beach, when a shark tore into her left leg. She has recovered in style.
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IF THERE’S one Australian Open of Surfing competitor who knows how to overcome adversity, it’s Kirra-Belle Olsson.
The Avoca Beach surfer put in a stellar performance at Manly on Sunday to win the girls’ under-16s age category of the event’s inaugural Sydney Grom Challenge.
Just competing at the AOS – let alone being a winner at it – is a testament to how courageous this young girl is after she was bitten by a shark in October 2014.
Kirra-Belle, 14, was out on an early-morning surf at her home break, when the shark tore into her left leg.
But if you saw the way she carved up the waves at Manly, you would see she is anything but timid about being in the water following the horrifying ordeal.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” Kirra-Belle told the Manly Daily.
“I’m pretty mentally strong, so I just brush those things off. I’m still the same as I was before the attack.”
Proud father Jamie agreed.
“If she thinks about it or it’s a problem, you wouldn’t know,” he said.
“She trains so hard – you couldn’t push the girl any harder.
“When she’s on, I think she has got the goods to beat anyone.”
After overcoming testing conditions on Saturday – with waves peaking at about eight feet – Kirra-Belle overcame Whale Beach’s Bodhi Leigh-Jones to win the four-person final.
In a boon for junior surfing on the northern beaches, two other peninsula surfers – Curl Curl’s Ben Walsh and Manly’s Winter Vincent – also won their respective age categories in the Sydney Grom Challenge.
Ben, 14, won the boys’ under-16s event following a back-and-forth battle with Avoca’s Finn Hill.
“It was pretty exciting,” Ben’s father Peter said.
“It was beautiful because he had a lot of mates from his school, St Augustine’s College.”
Winter, 11, labelled his win in the boys’ under-14s event as likely his most “special” result yet.
“It was one of the best days ever,” he said.
“Especially on my home beach – that made it special.”
Victorian surfer Sage Golsbury was the under-14s girls’ winner.
Sage outpointed three other surfers in Sunday’s final, including Whale Beach’s Cedar Leigh-Jones.
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