Roxy Pro: Sally Fitzgibbons adamant shock loss won’t affect her world title chances

SALLY Fitzgibbons is adamant her shock Roxy Pro elimination will not affect her drive towards a maiden World Surf League title.

Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons during her victory over Australia's Stephanie Gilmore in the final of the Surfest 2016 surfing competition at Merewether Beach in Newcastle. Pic Brett Costello

SALLY Fitzgibbons is adamant her shock Roxy Pro elimination will not affect her drive towards a maiden World Surf League title.

Fitzgibbons’ Round 2 knockout at Snapper Rocks on Saturday was the worst result of her career in her 60th start on tour.

But with each athlete able to “throw away’’ their two worst results of the season, Fitzgibbons knows her world title chances are well and truly alive.

“Obviously you don’t really want to be using that in the first event but that happens,’’ Fitzgibbons said.

“I think now that I have been on tour so long, I really understand that it is a long year, it’s just that the build-up for this event and the anticipation and the expectation from yourself to perform on a wave that’s very high-performance leaves you a bit disappointed when you don’t get the result.

“It’s like, ‘oh no, I’ve started on the back foot’.’’

While the intensely competitive surfer remains devastated by the result, she says the hurt is just an indication of how much she loves the sport.

Fitzgibbons was beaten by tour rookie Bronte Macaulay, who scored an 8.5 in the dying seconds of the heat to steal a shock win.

It came just hours after Malia Manuel’s buzzer-beater pushed Fitzgibbons out of the lead in her Round 1 heat and into the knockout second round.

“I do feel like especially the rookies, they really step up at this first event,’’ she said.

“The first round loss, the buzzer-beater, you take it in your stride and then the second round, you think, this is going to be a challenge, Bronte’s been in form.

“But when it all clicks together for them and they post that score in the last 20 seconds, nothing can really replicate that sinking feeling.

“After all these years it still burns, so it must mean that I’m really passionate about this, really love it and have to move forward.’’

But Fitzgibbons is already setting her focus on the tour’s next round at Bells Beach.

“It definitely won’t hinder me going into the next event and the rest of the year but it just hurts, you just burn and you just want to win as much as everyone else pulling on the jersey,’’ she said.

“It’s just like that first dress-rehearsal (for the season), you have that electricity and the crowd cheering for you and I think that’s what hurts the most.

“I love a home crowd, I’m so proud to be an Aussie and I just love that feeling of everyone just right there supporting you and I wanted to feel that through the rounds a little bit deeper into the event.

“But not this year. I go back home and start again.’’

Fitzgibbons will not have to go back to the drawing board though, with her preparation for the season and the Roxy Pro going exactly as planned.

“It’s an interesting feeling, you’re a bit confused in yourself,’’ she said.

“I feel like I did everything right in preparation, had a great lead-up with the win at Newcastle.’’

But able to showcase her ocean skills and power game in the next two events at Bells Beach and Margaret River, Fitzgibbons is unlikely to be down for long.

“I like to think I’ve got a little added advantage going into the cold-water stops,’’ she said.

“Growing up on the (NSW) South Coast we have a lot of raw ocean. I like that the next two (events) are based on that ocean knowledge and bigger boards and hopefully I get to display that power I’ve been working on in the off-season.’’