Sally Fitzgibbons has won gold at the World Surfing Games in priceless scenes in Puerto Rico, but the beloved Australian won't be heading to her second Olympics.
Fitzgibbons came up trumps on the north coast of the Caribbean island to clinch the fourth top-level victory of her career, before riding to shore on the back of a jet ski and raising a fist with her renowned beaming smile.
But if Fitzgibbons was to have a chance of contesting the Olympics at the Tahitian village of Teahupo'o, the location for the Paris 2024 surfing competition, Australia had to win the women's team event at the World Surfing Games, as explained by Wide World of Sports in January.
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Tyler Wright and Molly Picklum had qualified for the women's tournament through ranking points, while Ethan Ewing and Jack Robinson had also punched their tickets for the men's competition via rankings.
If Australia won the women's team event at the World Surfing Games, the last surfing qualification event for Paris 2024, the victory would have obtained an additional quota place, which Surfing Australia selectors could have used to send another surfer to the Olympics. Fitzgibbons, India Robinson and Isabella Nichols were among the candidates.
But Brazil won the women's team event, edging Australia by just 35 points. Brazil racked up 1755 points and Australia 1720.
Australia fell short of grabbing another quota place by only 0.24 of a wave score, with Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb, the silver medallist, scoring 12.24 in the final and France's Johanne Defay, the bronze medallist, registering 12.00. Australia needed Weston-Webb to finish third.
https://twitter.com/Sally_Fitz/status/1764330519997624403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
When Fitzgibbons arrived at shore at the World Surfing Games, the 33-year-old was lifted onto a couple of guys' shoulders and cheered wildly while waving the Australian flag.
"Paddling out for that final, I had a really calm feeling wash over me," Fitzgibbons said.
"I knew that it was gonna take the bigger, taller sections and attacking surfing, and I had to find that in myself going toe-to-toe with opponents from Brazil and France that I've surfed with for 10-plus years on the world tour. There's sometimes a lot of scar tissue of some instances where it's just been so tight, and they've got me and pipped me at the post. Just to know that I still lean into that and it's possible to win one back on them — that's the exciting thing about surfing and why I still show up to the Games."
Fitzgibbons, Wright, Picklum, Ewing, Robinson and Morgan Cibilic represented the Irukandjis, the name of the Australian surfing team, in Puerto Rico.
"To navigate through and not have the best opportunities in terms of waves, it was all about the grit and the digging deep and hearing my team on the beach cheering and just that encouragement and belief everyone had around me," Fitzgibbons added.
"I just have an immense amount of pride thinking about the people I'm representing back home and everyone that's put into my journey and my career.
"And then everyone's doing the ring of fire and saying, 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie'. It's just crazy, the biggest shots of adrenaline through my system."
Brazil won the women's and men's team events in Puerto Rico.
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