Jack Robinson has joined some of the great names in surfing by winning at Pipeline, after the Australian posted victory over Italian Leo Fioravanti in the final of the WSL’s season-opening event, the Billabong Pro.
But compatriot Tyler Wright narrowly missed out on making it an Australian double at the notorious Hawaiian break as the two-time world champion lost out to old rival Carissa Moore in the women’s final.
Robinson, 25, got his third year on the tour up and running with a fourth career title in a low-scoring final against Fioravanti in blustery conditions.
Both surfers were robbed of the usual barrels Pipeline produces, and in a grinding 40 minute decider Robinson’s best two waves scored 9.17 while his good friend Fioravanti, in his first final, could only manage 7.47.
Robinson follows in the footsteps of previous winners such as Kelly Slater and Andy Irons, the late Hawaiian surfer whose memory is honoured at Pipeline.
“It’s so special. I dreamed of this for a long time,” Robinson said. “Andy was one of my favourite surfers ever, along with the other greats. It’s an honour, just to feel everything, feel all the emotions.
“At the start of year you don’t know how you’re going to come back. I was feeling good but you never know with this beach. What a way to start it.
“I’m just so grateful, that’s one of the biggest things. Every time I was paddling out there, [I was thinking] this wave’s hurt me, this wave’s given me a lot of good things too.
“But I’m super grateful to be in one piece and be in the moment and be able to do it.”
Robinson’s win puts him on top of the nascent 2023 world rankings after one event this season, and he will wear yellow when the competition window for the next outing at Sunset Beach in Hawaii opens on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a long road. I’m just getting my legs ready to run that road,” Robinson said. “We’ll try to go all the way, one by one.”
Earlier, two-time world champion Wright left it too late to snatch victory from Moore in the latest of the pair’s long-standing rivalry.
In a low-scoring final, with the lead changing several times, Moore set up the victory with a barrel ride that judges scored a 7.17. Wright could only manage two scores of 5.0 and bombed her last wave with just over a minute left on the clock.
Women were only allowed to compete at Pipeline for the first time last year, although Wright has previously tasted victory there in 2021, when the Maui Pro was relocated to Pipeline from Honolua Bay due to a shark scare.
Then, Wright got the better of Moore in one of 11 Championship Tour finals the pair have now contested against each other, including the Australian’s wins at Maui in 2016 and Bells Beach in 2022. Wright had won their last three final meetings, with Moore having won their first seven title deciders, starting on the Gold Coast in 2011.
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report.
