Australia’s nine-year WSL title drought can end this week

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MAJOR GUIDE | The Rip Curl WSL Finals starts Thursday, with three Aussies carrying legitimate world title claims. Here’s your event crash course before it all kicks off. 

Well it all comes down to this.

The World Surfing League (WSL) will be decided in San Clemente, California. And fans can be forgiven for struggling to follow along with the format. But there’s reason to pay attention, with two Aussies right in the hunt to bring the men’s crown home for the first time since 2013 (Mick Fanning).

WA’s Jack Robinson (2nd) and Queensland’s Ethan Ewing (3rd) are well positioned to challenge Brazil’s recent stranglehold on the world title, with Filepe Toledo the front-runner this year. Toledo is also chasing a maiden crown, after Gabriel Medina claimed another last year and Italo Ferreira took it out before that.

It’s just the top five ranked men and women taking to the world famous Lower Trestles break to battle it out for glory, as opposed to the traditional year-long points-gathering format of years gone past. Seven-time world champ Stephanie Gilmore is the other Australian still in the hunt for silverware, sneaking in as the five-seed on the women’s side of the draw.

So ten events over 2022 now comes down to ten surfers taking centre stage, with kickoff on Thursday September 8. It’s not just finals time in Australia’s main football codes. So let’s get down to business; running through how it’s all going to work and what chance the Aussies have.

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Above | Graphic from WSL: The Finals format – WSL’s full explainer

Top-ranked Australians 

Jack Robinson has had a huge breakout season on the tour, qualifying as the two seed after making three event finals and winning two of them. The West Australian 24-year-old will await whichever lower-ranked competitor wins into his heat.

Let’s hope it’s Ethan Ewing, who’s surprised plenty of fans and qualified third. Also 24, the North Stradbroke Island Queenslander will have to get past either former champ Italo Ferreira or Kanoa Igarashi to book a shot at Robinson and ensure that an Aussie progresses to the decider.

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And after falling short of the win last year, Stephanie Gilmore is back in the finals to fly the flag for Australia. It follows a stellar 2022 for the 34-year-old, who capped off the regular season with a bang, knocking former world number Lakey Peterson out of the Tour championship top five.

Gilmore, the fifth seed, will enter into the first matchup of the event against Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennesy (4th). Currently equal with Layne Beachley for the most titles won in the women’s WSL World Tour, Gilmore will be looking to add an eighth title to her collection. To do so, she’ll need to ‘run the table’ and win three straight duels to reach Carissa Moore in the championship event.

The series favourites

Reigning champion Carissa Moore is the favourite, chasing a sixth crown. The Hawaiian surfer delivered a dazzling performance in 2022, pocketing 57, 670 points across the ten tour stops. Like last year, Moore will enter as the first seed. 

For the men, there is no clear winner to take out the title. Last year’s winner Gabriel Medina had his 2022 interrupted by multiple complications and finished off the regular season ranked 24th. 

But the high-flying Fillipe Toledo has stepped up in Medina’s absence, living up to his potential to top the leaderboard and enter the competition as the first seed.

There is an excellent chance that Toledo will meet one of the Aussies in the best-of-three title decider.

Finals format

It’s just five men and five women still in the hunt for glory.

The top seeds have been rewarded for huge seasons by qualifying directly into the women’s and men’s finals title match. As mentioned, it’s a best-of-three thriller to determine who is the world champion.

The rest will enter the WSL finals based on their end-of-year rankings in both the men’s and women’s. There will be three matches before the title match commences. 

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In match one, the fifth-ranked surfer will battle it out against the fourth-ranked to go head-to-head. 

Then the winner of match one will proceed to the next stage and take on the third-ranked surfer; the winner of that contest will face off against the second-ranked surfer. And whoever claims that battle gets their shot at the top seed.

The winner will be determined by the first surfer to win two out of three heats. In doing so, they will be crowned this year’s world champion.

Picture of Ashleigh Matosevic
Ashleigh Matosevic
Ashleigh is a born and bred Melbournian who has covered a number of sports since graduating with a sports journalism degree. She has a passion for Aussie rules and basketball, as well as sharing the stories about the sportspeople who captivate us. Her experience includes writing for The Inner Sanctum and Draft Central.

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