Mick Fanning, Steph Gilmore, Owen Wright chase Aussie double at Bells

MICK Fanning must beat a mate and Stephanie Gilmore “a zappy pocket rocket” to keep alive a bid by the former champions to claim Australia’s first men’s and women's double at the Rip Curl Pro since 2012.

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MICK Fanning must beat a mate and Stephanie Gilmore “a zappy pocket rocket” to keep alive a bid by the former champions to claim Australia’s first men’s and women's double at the Rip Curl Pro since 2012.

Fanning and Sally Fitzgibbons achieved the feat six years ago and while the retiring star went on to repeat in 2014 and 2015 and Matt Wilkinson won in 2016, not a single Australian women has won the crown in the past five years.

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The pair have the chance to rectify this when competition in the World Tour event resumes.

If Fanning fails in his quarter-final, his opponent Owen Wright will take over the baton for Australia in the men’s competition.

And then there were three. Mick Fanning, Steph Gilmore and Owen Wright.

“Yeah it’s unfortunate that we matched up in the quarter-finals. Mick has been such a good friend to me for so long,’’ Wright said.

“We’ve ridden on the Rip Curl team together for the majority of our careers and he’s been there for me through a lot, especially in the last few years.

“It would definitely be hard to know that I was the person who knocked him out of his final event but at the end of the day it’s a competition and it’s not going to change how I look at the heat.’’

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There is no back up for Gilmore, the last Australian in the women’s tournament and set to take on 16-year-old Caroline Marks in her semi-final.

The six-time world champion said she got a shock when she realised seven years had past since she last won the Rip Curl Pro - an event she took out for the first of three times as a tour rookie in 2007.

Stephanie Gilmore is into the semis.

Mick Fanning is into the quarters.

Success in the 2018 event would deliver Gilmore her first yellow rashie of a year she hopes will end with a record-equalling seventh world crown.

“I saw that in the computer today, that I hadn’t won here in years, and thought, that’s not on,” Gilmore said. “Enough is enough.”

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Gilmore, who won Bells in 2007, 2008 and 2010, said she is impressed by tour rookie Marks.

“She is a zappy, pocket rocket. Hopefully I can open up and do some big carves,” Gilmore said. “She will be a tough one for sure.

“She has nothing to lose and that rookie hunger and drive to be the best. “She is inspiring to see.”

Originally published as Mick Fanning, Steph Gilmore, Owen Wright chase Aussie double at Bells