Prodigy Ethan Ewing wins first World Surf League qualifying series event with Burleigh Pro victory

THE rising star of Australian surfing has justified the hype surrounding his talent after winning his first World Surf League title at the Burleigh Pro.

Ethan Ewing of Australia during the men's final of the 2016 Burleigh Pro World Surf League Qualifying Series held at Burliegh Heads, Gold Coast. Picture: Regi Varghese

THE rising star of Australian surfing has justified the hype surrounding his talent after winning his first World Surf League title at the Burleigh Pro.

North Stradbroke product Ethan Ewing conquered small and sloppy conditions at Burleigh to post an impressive two-wave total of 18.25 out of a possible 20 to win his first title in the WSL Qualifying Series 1000 event.

The 17-year-old, considered by many as one of the rising stars of the sport, beat former WSL championship tour member Blake Thornton, fellow Sydneysider Caiden Fowler and South Africa’s Matthew McGillivray in yesterday’s four-man final.

While he admitted to plenty of nerves going into the event, Ewing drew on experience he picked up in his QS finals debut in Bali last year when he was just pipped by championship tour veteran Taj Burrow.

“It was great experience just to watch him and see what he does, he surfs amazing, so I definitely got a lot out of that event and for this year it gave me a lot of confidence,’’ Ewing said.

“I’m so happy. It’s great to get the win finally.

“Everyone in this contest can surf so amazing and any one of those guys in the final could have won.’’

Ethan Ewing is chaired up the beach after winning the Burleigh Pro on Sunday Jan 31, 2016. Credit: WSL/Bennett

Ewing posted a 9.75 — the highest single score of the tournament — and an 8.0 to lead the final by massive margin halfway through the 30-minute heat.

But Thornton got himself back into contention with a late 8.4 ride and gave Ewing a fright with a 9.0 ride in the dying minutes.

The teen would have snuck home regardless but extended his margin when he followed Thornton on the next wave of a rare set to post 8.5 and seal his first senior WSL title.

“I could hear that I was in first but I heard Blake got that 9.0 but luckily I bettered my score with my last wave,’’ he said.

Ewing will juggle pro junior events with QS tournaments this season, with his focus on the juniors in his last year as an age grouper.

“I want to be the Australasian Pro Junior champion,’’ he said of the qualifying step to world junior titles.

“This is my last year in pro juniors, they’ve changed that to 18 and under, so this is my last year and next year I’ll hopefully be doing big QS events.’’

Event manager Cory Roberts said the Burleigh Pro was a flagship event for Surfing Queensland and the body wanted to continue to raise its profile.

“This is one of Surfing Queensland’s premium products,’’ Roberts said.

“I definitely see strong potential in the Burleigh Pro given the iconic location of this event and the heritage of the event but I think it’s all in due time.

“You can’t go from zero to hero. As much as I would like to see it back where it was in its glory days … there’s guaranteed potential for growth.

“Our plan was to lay the foundation and now that we’ve got a pretty good foundation and we’re starting to gain some traction, we can grow from there potentially into a (QS) 1500 or 3000 event.’’