Surfing-Brazil's Dora, Australia's Picklum win first world titles in Fiji
FILE PHOTO: Surfing - World Surf League - Tahiti Pro - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - May 30, 2024 Brazil's Yago Dora in action during the round of 16 heat 3 REUTERS/Thomas Bevilacqua/File Photo
Brazil's Yago Dora and Australian Molly Picklum surfed with power and precision to win their first world titles on Tuesday, taking out the WSL finals over Americans Griffin Colapinto and Caroline Marks in solid waves at Fiji's famed Cloudbreak reef.
Dora had his best year on surfing's world tour, winning two events and qualifying as the top seed for the one-day, winner-takes-all finals for the top five surfers.
"It's unbelievable. The signs were all there for me. I felt something special this week, since I got here in Fiji, I knew something was going my way," the 29-year-old from Florianopolis said from the water in front of a flotilla of spectator boats.
"It didn't matter whoever I was going to get in the finals, things were going to happen, and I was going to come out to win."
While the waves at Cloudbreak would be a dream for most surfers - well overhead, clean and powerful - conditions were perhaps not quite as big or as challenging as forecast, or what the remote reef can produce on its day.
That probably favoured the Brazilian goofy-footer, riding facing the fast-running waves.
Renowned for his style and his dizzying array of high-risk aerial manoeuvres, Dora quickly found his feet, racking up a 7.33 out of 10 for two surgically sharp turns on his first wave.
Colapinto, who took down Brazil's 2019 world champion Italo Ferreira and South African veteran Jordy Smith on his way to the final, fought his way back against Dora, squeezing out of a tight tube after some solid turns for a 6.33 to go with an earlier 5.17.
But Dora answered with bigger turns on a bigger wave for an 8.33 and a 15.66 total, holding onto the lead despite a last-minute charge from Colapinto as the hooter sounded that took his heat total to 12.33.
Apart from Hawaiian John John Florence's three titles in 2016, 2017 and 2024, Brazilian surfers have now won the men's world championship every year since 2014.
PICKLUM FIGHTS BACK
Marks, the 23-year-old Paris Olympics gold medallist, looked likely to repeat her 2023 world title run as she stormed through the field after qualifying in fourth position.
In the title match, the pair traded mid-range scores before Marks locked in on a solid wall, ripping some powerful turns for a two-wave total of 12.50 to Picklum's 10.50 and sending the final to a best-of-three.
Picklum, from Central Coast near Sydney, started strongly in the second match-up as both the wind and swell picked up.
The 22-year-old racked up 15.83 points on two waves before Marks had really got started including a long, clean tube at Shish Kabobs, the dangerous inside section known for its skewers of sharp, shallow coral heads.
Picklum kept up her momentum in the decider, quickly building with a series of critical rides and ending with an excellent 16.93 total as Marks, surfing her sixth heat of the day, struggled to find the right waves.
"I didn't make it easy for myself," an ecstatic Picklum, draped in an Australian flag, said after her win.
"I was like, pretty excited and made it hard for myself, but I then just locked in and did what I have done all year and I cannot believe I am the world champion."
