Julian Wilson – 36 years old, four years off the tour and re-booking his Gold Coast accommodation with every win because he hadn’t initially budgeted for them – was just happy to be there.
That was the original story, anyway.
Not on Saturday afternoon, though. Not when the returning veteran realised he could actually win the Gold Coast Pro.
Wilson earned his spot in the Championship event only last week, yet found himself in the final with only long-time sparring partner Filipe Toledo and a vocal Brazilian crowd on the Burleigh headland standing in his way.
So he surfed his guts out. Sprayed buckets of water over the lip and took to the air. Flipped off the Brazilian crowd when he landed.
He got stuck right into Toledo, too, sledging and goading the two-time world champion into error as their high-scoring heat went down to the wire.
Julian Wilson takes flight in his WCT comeback.Credit: Getty Images
Toledo prevailed by the barest of margins – 17.60 to 17.20 – and his is a story worth telling, too. This was the Brazilian’s first event win since stepping off tour last year on mental health grounds.
But Wilson, back in the big time after his own sabbatical during COVID-19 stretched to four years, might just be returning as a different beast.
“It felt like a football stadium out there, and it felt like the crowd was in the water with us, it got me going big time,” Wilson explained afterwards.
“The crowd got me going and this is my home event, my family’s on the beach and this is the event I’m most passionate about.
Julian Wilson flips the bird to the Brazilian crowd at the Gold Coast Pro.
“So with eight minutes left in the heat, I could hear the crowd on the hill chanting like it was over. That wasn’t coming from the Aussies, and I was filthy, really fired up.
“I went a little bit out-of-body on that wave and with the reaction, and I was just thinking ‘There’s eight minutes to go here, I’m going to take a run at this and use the fire to my advantage. Let’s flip this heat’.”
Forget the double rainbow that popped up 30 minutes earlier, as Sally Fitzgibbons’ giant-killing run to the final came to an end against Hawaiian Betty-Lou Sakura-Johnson, who won her first Championship Tour event at age 20.
This was “the blood on the rocks at Burleigh” Peter Drouyn spoke of in 1977, when one-on-one heats were first introduced to pro-surfing.
Sally Fitzgibbons competes in the women’s final.Credit: Getty Images
Wilson famously paddled toward Mick Fanning a decade ago when a great white circled. That same year, he and Toledo traded blows in an enthralling 2015 Gold Coast Pro final that the pair reprised for a rapturous crowd.
Wilson’s remarkable run from trials victor to WSL finalist, extending that Airbnb with each win all the while, continued a lovely renaissance for surfing’s older guard on the Gold Coast.
In between appearances on stage with Spiderbait, 37-year-old, eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore knocked out reigning 19-year-old world champ Caity Simmers.
Canadian prodigy Erin Brooks, even younger than Simmers and significantly less than half Gilmore’s age, sent the local favourite packing. Fitzgibbons’, 34, returned the favour en route to Saturday’s final – her first since 2021.
Julian Wilson after winning his quarter-final on the Gold Coast.Credit: Getty Images
Wilson cut a similar swath through the men’s field, trumping world No.1 Italo Ferreira even when getting his three kids to the beach on Friday had him running late for his early morning heat.
As much as anyone, Toledo could appreciate exactly where Wilson was coming from, and what he was adding in the water.
“A lot of fire, just a lot of fire,” was Toledo’s summation of a wide-eyed conversation between waves as the final minutes of their heat ticked down.
“Both of us are now dads with kids… I’m not really thinking about ranking or where I am, I just want to surf. I definitely feel a little bit more freedom to surf.”
Wilson will now do the same again in three weeks at Newcastle’s Surfest, the first stop on the WSL Challenger Series.
“That’s the kickstart of my campaign to try and get a spot back on tour,” he said.
With fire in the belly, an up-yours and some superb surfing, the comeback is already well under way.
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