Stephanie Gilmore chasing history-making eighth title in World Surf League finals
She’s chasing an eighth World Surf League title at the inaugural finals series but Stephanie Gilmore is interested in legacy more than records.
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Stephanie Gilmore is talking legacy.
If the 33-year-old is able to defy the odds and win an eighth World Surf League title when the finals are held at the famous Lower Trestles break in California next week, she will stand alone as the greatest women’s surfer in history.
Gilmore is competitive. She wants to break the record she currently shares with fellow Aussie great Layne Beachley.
“It’s been really cool to reach the number seven and Layne was a huge inspiration to me, of course,” Gilmore said.
“She won six in a row - I don’t think you’ll ever see anyone do that again - and she really paved the way in showing if you really dedicate your time and effort, there’s no limit to how much you can achieve.
“To win an eighth, of course (I want to), I’m competitive.
“Sitting equal is cool but eight would be even better.”
But what would an eighth title really mean?
For Gilmore, it’s about inspiring the next generation of surfers to be even better than her.
“That’s really the most important thing,” she said about the mark she was able to leave.
“You can win multiple world titles but you get to a point where you go: what’s the difference between the fifth and the seventh?
“It’s really about what you’re doing with that platform - how you’re carrying yourself in and around that and what kind of message or story you’re telling alongside those world titles that will really inspire the young girls to go through and to try and live out their dreams too.”
At 33, Gilmore is the oldest competitor in the finals field and along with Frenchwoman Johanne Defay, who she faces in the opening knockout heat, faces the toughest road to the title.
As the fourth seed, Gilmore needs to win three knockout battles, against Defay, fellow Aussie Sally Fitzgibbons and Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb to make the three-heat decider against world no.1 Carissa Moore.
But she says her age is a greater boost than it is a barrier.
“I’ve just learnt so much in the last few years,” she said.
“I find you hit your thirties and you’re more comfortable in your own skin and you’re able to approach things in a much more authentic way.
“We’ve learnt so much in the last decade about health and wellbeing and how to find longevity in your sports.
“But I feel great, my body feels great and we’ll see if I can take it all the way.”
Gilmore was initially sceptical about the finals format but given she now has the chance to walk away with the crown from fourth place, she’s onside.
“I was not too excited about it initially, just thinking that world champions should be crowned over the year where you’re surfing in all different types of waves,” she said.
“But they’ve really set up this format so that the world no.1 going into this final still has the best shot.
“Also, I don’t think ever in my career, I have won any of my world titles in the water in the last heat against the world no.1.”
“I feel like the WSL have made a lot of changes on the tour lately that they keep gifting me with reasons to be excited about being on tour, so it’s really nice - I’m looking forward to it.”
MEET THE AUSSIE UNDERDOG READY TO TAKE DOWN WORLD’S BEST
He’s the unknown man of Australian surfing, but Morgan Cibilic hopes to change all that in the coming days.
“If you don’t know who I am, then you will soon,” he said.
It sounds a cocky statement from a 21-year-old in his rookie season on the World Surf League (WSL) tour.
But Cibilic’s results back it up.
The Newcastle product has been the surprise packet of the World Surf League season, pushing into the top five in the rankings to earn a spot in the competition’s new finals series.
The one-day event, likely to be held early next week, pits the top five men and women in the rankings against each other in a series of knockout heats until one challenger is left to face the world no.1 in a three-heat final.
Cibilic will start the competition as the biggest of underdogs, having to fight his way through three knockout heats and some of the world’s best surfers to earn a place in the final against two-time world champion Gabriel Medina.
But the 21-year-old knows he has nothing to lose in a contest no one believed he would be a part of and is determined not to let reputations faze him.
“I’ve been a bit of an underdog throughout the year and not really any pressure on (from) people expecting me to do well,” Cibilic said.
“It was more pressure from myself and that definitely helped me.
“It’s a bit of a different pressure now but going into this event I’m definitely the underdog.
“So I’ve got nothing to lose and I’m excited for it because I can definitely upset the world.”
Cibilic qualified to join the WSL’s championship tour after outstanding results in the qualifying series in 2019.
Covid halted his march on to the world stage last year and while it was a blow at the time, Cibilic now sees it as a silver lining.
“It was pretty annoying but at the same time, it was a blessing in disguise because I got to improve my surfing and gain a year of experience. After all, I’m the new kid on the block,” he said.
“It was a bit frustrating because I was really looking forward to Snapper and now that’s not on the tour anymore, so it sucks a little bit.
“But I definitely grew a lot in that year off and I’m pretty excited for the rest of it.”
Cibilic’s time on tour started tentatively, with a 17th place at the Pipeline Masters.
But the four tour legs in Australia played into his hands and he finished third in his hometown event at Newcastle, made the quarters at Narrabeen and was runner-up at Rottnest Island, beating two-time world champion John John Florence along the way.
Having spent his year causing upsets, Cibilic sees no reason to stop now.
“I guess everyone always says (take it one step at a time) but I’m definitely aiming to get to the final,” he said.
Why ‘wild year of firsts’ may not be over just yet
It’s the getting up that’s defined Sally Fitzgibbons’ career.
For all the disappointments - three consecutive runner-up finishes in the world title race, and an Olympic defeat that is still as raw as a fresh wound - Fitzgibbons gets up and goes again next week in her bid to be the best women’s surfer in the world.
But Fitzgibbons is far from a punch-drunk fighter leading with her chin.
At 30, she believes she has plenty of life left in her career and her best years may just be ahead of her.
After finishing third in the rankings at the end of the season, Fitzgibbons has won a place in the World Surf League (WSL) finals - a one-day event that will pit the top five men and women against each other in a series of heats until just one challenger is left to face the world no.1 in a three-heat series to decide the world championship.
“With the handicap, it may be written that it’s supposed to be someone else’s story but it’s the belief that it can be your day that counts,” Fitzgibbons said.
The competition window opens on Friday (Australian time), with forecasts for the Lower Trestles break in California showing strong swell building early next week.
“It really bookends a wild year but a year of firsts - one where we started with surfing Pipe for the first time in competition to the Olympic Games and now the WSL finals,” she said.
“To be a part of the three big moments, that’s something that I’m proud of myself and my team for and to be here and witness it on the front lines, I feel like I’ve got the best seat in the house.”
But Fitzgibbons is not content just to make up the numbers.
Her drive for a world title is legendary and has, at times, interrupted the performance that is necessary to lift the trophy.
She believes a combination of experience and pain will give her the best chance to survive a potential knockout heat against fellow Aussie Stephanie Gilmore - should the seven-time world champ progress from her opening match against France’s Johanne Defay - and then on to a clash against second-placed Brazilian Tatiana Weston-Webb before hopefully setting up a grand final against world no.1 Carissa Moore.
“You put those expectations on yourself and it’s kind of inevitable that you’re going to feel the weight of it and that’s what’s the ultimate challenge is, trying to shed those layers and be so calm and at peace,” she said.
“It feels like there’s constant noise and surround sound and just like a skill in on a wave - to do an air or get barrelled - to be able to quieten that (noise) and know that you can be at peace in there and there’s no push or trying too hard, to reach that place is what we try and do every time we perform.”
Fitzgibbons is still smarting from a quarter-final defeat at the Tokyo Olympics but like close friend Gilmore, who was tipped out early in a shock loss, is using the experience as fuel for the WSL finals.
“The hurt is so real but it’s something that is beautiful at the same time,” Fitzgibbons said.
“I was really feeling for the year we’ve had as Australians and the current lockdowns and the ups and downs and I just felt like … I don’t know, that if I could keep creating that portal for people to jump in and support and cheer, it would take a moment out of the hectic and draining sense that they had going on at home.
“It was more feeling that emotional ride and it was a bit bigger in a sense, that Olympic Games, than just the performance.
“Now that you can move on to the end of the year and pick yourself up, I almost feel like whether it’s Steph with a number of titles or people with different crowns, I feel like I’ve put the reps in at hopping back up and trying again - and that’s sometimes the hardest thing to do in life.”
Originally published as Stephanie Gilmore chasing history-making eighth title in World Surf League finals
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