Macy Callaghan chasing second world junior surf title at Kiama
A YEAR ago Macy Callaghan was on top of the world and the owner of a small piece of Australian sporting history as out first world champion of 2017. Now she’s on the hunt for a second.
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A YEAR ago Macy Callaghan was on top of the world and the owner of a small piece of Australian sporting history as out first world champion of 2017.
A year on Callaghan is attempting to repeat her feat of being crowned the best junior female surfer in the world.
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But the 17-year-old from the NSW Central Coast and Tokyo Olympic aspirant believes it will be much tougher to defend her world crown that it was winning the first one.
“One hundred per cent it is going to be a lot harder, everyone tells me that as well,’’ she said.
“It’s going to take a lot to do this twice but I do like a challenge.’’
Callaghan, Ethan Ewing and Tyler Wright were the only Australian surfers to end 2017 as world champions but Ewing has now aged out of the 2016 world junior championships to be surfed at Kiami this week.
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However Callaghan, who is young enough to compete at both the 2018 and 2019 world surfing titles, has a point to prove at the event after just falling short of making the women’s world tour.
“It was a bit of a bummer,’’ she said. “But the goal is to get on it as soon as I can.’’
Representatives from each of World Surf League’s seven regions — Australasia, Africa, Europe, Hawaii, Japan, North America and South America — are competing in Kiama.
Australia also has a leading contender to dominate the men’s event in Kiama in Reef Hazelwood with 14-year-old Zahli Kelly also competing for Australia.