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Minnamurra Kiama Downs Jamberoo Bombo Kiama Kiama Heights Gerringong Gerroa
[ 24 August - 6 September 2024 ]
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Gerroa’s own Sally Fitzgibbons wins second US Open of Surfing Malin Dunfors
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hirteen years after winning her first US Open of Surfing, Sally Fitzgibbons returned to California’s iconic Huntington Beach and did it again. “For the final, I closed my eyes and pictured an empty beach in Gerroa. It brought me calm,” she says.
Three good things
Sally Fitzgibbons celebrated her second US Open of Surfing title on 11 August. [Photo courtesy: World Surf League (WSL)]
Super excited over her incredible win on 11 August, Fitzgibbons has just landed on Australian soil after what she describes as “a wild week”. Because not only did she win the US Open of Surfing title, she was also voted on the Australian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission (on the exact same day) and later, inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame. “It’s a unique sport in that you train so hard and you put it all into every performance. You don’t know how willing the waves are to come your way, and you have to be accepting of that,” Fitzgibbons says. She goes on to explain that when the waves don’t hold the power, it becomes technically much harder because you have to produce everything yourself.
But boy, did the 33-year-old Gerroa surfer deliver the goods in the US Open of Surfing final, beating 17-year-old Bella Kenworthy of San Clemente, 12.06 - 11.96. “At this point in my career, I’m really appreciative. My mum and dad were there. The anchor to all of my performance has always been coming home,” she says.
Almost feels like yesterday
Fitzgibbons’ first US Open of Surfing title came in 2011 at the age of 20. “It’s interesting,” she reflects. “You don’t realise how quickly time passes. You feel like you’ve done it for a minute. “I still felt like the 14-yearold paddling out.” It was at that very age that Fitzgibbons won the ASP Pro Junior Open, emerging as one of Australia’s best female surfers. Since 2009, she has been on the World Surf League’s (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), finishing 12 times in the world’s top eight, which includes three No. 2 finishes and three No. 3 finishes.
Story continues on p. 3