(Reuters) – Australian surfer Jack Robinson won the World Surf League’s Margaret River Pro on Wednesday, using intimate knowledge of his home break and a high-risk approach to beat a seemingly unstoppable John John Florence in the final.
Countrywoman Isabella Nichols fought out a tense, low-scoring women’s final to come out on top against Hawaiian rookie Gabriela Bryan, who was competing in her first Championship Tour final.
After giant conditions on Tuesday, waves at Margaret River’s Main Break were still solidly overhead and groomed by offshore winds. That allowed for big turns outside and explosive manoeuvres on the end section where the shallow reef awaited any mistake, ready to chew on boards or bodies.
Florence, Hawaii’s two-time World Champ, had not lost a heat at Margaret River since 2016, setting a new performance bar the Western Australia venue with searing, high-speed carves.
But Robinson, a child prodigy who grew up charging West Australia’s powerful reef breaks, brought his own big turns and combined them with progressive aerials to edge Florence in the final.
“So many hours, so much time, so when you win like this, it’s just really special,” said Robinson, who caught some of the biggest and most critical waves of the event earlier. “I’m just so grateful.”
Under a controversial new tour format introduced this year, the men’s field will now be cut to 24 from 36 and the women’s to 12 from 18 for the remaining five events. The top five men and women surfers will then compete for the title at a one-day Finals in California in September.
Going into the Margaret River event, Nichols needed to win and Bryan needed to make the finals to claw their way above the cut from deep in the field.
“For this to actually be happening right now, I feel like I’m still in bed at home, asleep. It’ll take me a while to digest it,” Nichols said after her first Championship tour win.
“There is no better feeling than this in the whole world.”
South Africa’s Matthew McGillivray also saved his spot on tour with some clutch performances before running into Florence in the semi-finals but Australia’s former world number two Sally Fitzgibbons and Olympic bronze medallist Owen Wright missed the cut and were relegated to the second-tier Challenger series.
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
