Surf lifesaver Matt Bevilacqua has defended his world title in nail-biting finish
He’s renowned for his paddling strength and Matt Bevilacqua will be hoping it’s enough to help him win a world ironman title. Read about his success.
Tasmania
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Tasmanian surf lifesaver Matt Bevilacqua is thrilled to have already won back-to-back world board titles but today he will hunt down the prize he desperately craves – the ironman crown.
At the World Life Saving Championships on the Gold Coast, Bevilacqua, 32, defended the world board title he won in 2018, and also teamed with friend Joe Collins to win the world boat rescue title.
The board race was a nail-biter with only a metre separating first from last.
“It was pretty cool to be able to defend the world title,” he told the Sunday Tasmanian.
“It was really close.
“I only just held off the entire field who were on a wave behind me, like a metre behind me.
“So I just pushed down a little runner in front of the main wave and held them off up the beach.
“It was exciting because there was only about a metre between first and last.”
The final attracted 16 lifesavers from about 200 starters from across the world.
Bevilacqua attributes his win to his paddling strength and hours spent at Clifton Beach as a youngster.
“When I left Clifton Beach when I was 18, board paddling was my strength,” he said.
“I learned how to board paddle down there at Clifton, and we used to get out there in some big surf.
“We spent many hours hanging out with coaches and all my mates and we’d stay in the club overnight and just spend days down there.
“It’s just remained a strength throughout my whole ironman career, for the last 14 years.
“I’m starting to cement my name as one of the best board paddlers ever, because I’ve won every single board race event there is in Australia and the world.
“It’s cool to have learnt my trade down there and now be applying it on the world stage.”
He has won an Australian boat rescue title before but snared a world title.
“I did that with a good mate, Joe Collins. He’s from New Zealand, but he races for my club here on the Gold Coast (Northcliffe),” he said.
Bevilacqua is eagerly anticipating the final race of the competition, the ironman world championship on Sunday.
“So I’ve never won one of those, and I’ll be hunting down one of them tomorrow,” he said.
“I’m a good chance, but it’s a very, very hard race to win.
“I haven’t been able to win one before.”
Originally published as Surf lifesaver Matt Bevilacqua has defended his world title in nail-biting finish
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