Olympic silver medallist Jack Robinson has the stars seemingly aligning for him to end the longest title drought in Australian men’s surfing history, with a little help from inside the ‘Brazilian storm’ that has dominated during the past decade.
Robinson, 27, has made the past three WSL finals (a winner-takes-all, one-day event contested by the season’s top-five finishers) but is yet to win a finals heat or challenge for the ultimate title.
No Australian male has since Mick Fanning in 2013, with a slew of Brazilians and three-time champion John John Florence (Hawaii) reigning supreme during the past 12 years.
Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright have won five titles between them in the same period, while the longest previous gap between Australian men’s title-holders was eight years (between Damien Hardman in 1991 and Mark Occhilupo in 1999, and then Occhilupo and Fanning’s 2007 title).
But along with regular top five finisher and compatriot Ethan Ewing, 2025 shapes as a golden opportunity for Robinson to break the Americas stranglehold.
Defending champion Florence is taking a year-long sabbatical from the tour, though he will still compete at this week’s Billabong Pro at Pipeline, Hawaii, after accepting a wildcard invitation along with Kelly Slater. Three-time Brazilian winner Gabriel Medina will also miss a significant portion of the season as he recovers from pectoral surgery.
Robinson has described a revamped event line-up as “the best schedule they [the WSL] have put out” given the decisive finals event shifts from the oft-criticised Lower Trestles in California to Fiji’s Cloudbreak, one of the most iconic and, potentially, heaviest waves in the world.
Robinson is regarded as one of the best barrel-riders in the world and is a natural event favourite at tour stops like Cloudbreak, Teahupo’o (Tahiti) and Pipeline.
Florence and Medina are two of the men’s competitors who can truly match the WA product at heavy breaks, while two-time champion Filipe Toledo (Brazil) is considered near-unbeatable at smaller, high-performance waves like Trestles, but has been criticised for his efforts in big swells.
Robinson also holds a unique place on tour as something of a de facto Brazilian given his wife Julia, coach Leandro Dora and his son Yago Dora (world No.5) all hail from the South American nation and toured with him last year.
“I definitely see a rise from all the Australians, for sure,” Robinson said.
Jack Robinson will be one of the event favourites when the Billabong Pro kicks off at Pipeline this week.Credit: Getty
“There’s a new energy with all the Australian surfers, definitely different to the last few years. I feel like Brazil has had their moment. It feels like Australia and America who are pushing hard again.
“Ten years ago there was Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Taj [Burrow] so it feels like there’s a new energy with Ethan and myself and all the other Australians who have qualified.
“I love competing against all the Brazilians. They push each other, they push all of us. It gets super intense.”
Australians on the WSL tour
Men: Ethan Ewing, George Pittar, Jack Robinson, Joel Vaughan, Liam O’Brien, Ryan Callinan.
Women: Molly Picklum, Isabella Nichols, Sally Fitzgibbons, Tyler Wright.
Schedule
Pipe Pro (Jan 27-Feb 8), Abu Dhabi Pro (Feb14-16), Portugal (March 15-25), El Salvador (April 2-12), Bells Beach (April 18-28), Gold Coast (May 3-13), Margaret River (17-27), Trestles (June 9-17), Rio (June 21-29), Jeffreys Bay (July 11-20), Tahiti (Aug 7-16), Fiji (Aug 27-Sep 4).
Last year’s mid-season Olympics at Teahupo’o made for a particularly intense season as well, particularly when a pre-tournament brush with the Tahitian reef “almost cut my Achilles in half” according to Robinson.
Jack Robinson moments before paddling out at Pipeline.Credit: WSL
He went on to finish runner-up to Tahitian local Kauli Vaast and starred when heaving swells stunned a world of casual Olympic observers, but Robinson conceded the lead-up had dominated his season.
The Gold Coast Pro’s return at Snapper Rocks in May, along with his native Margaret River Pro in WA shortly after gives Robinson “two events on my doorstep – I can just run down from my heat and be ready.”
Robinson is an unabashed fan of the finals moving from Trestles to Fiji, where he was a semi-finalist in last year’s Cloudbreak event.
“I think it’s a good change,” Robinson told WSL broadcaster Fox Sports.
“I think it needed it, especially after, what did we do, four years at Trestles? I think that’s what everyone wanted and everyone got it. It’s the best schedule they’ve put out, we’re finishing in Fiji.
“We’ve had a hard few years, some of the waves haven’t been as good [but] That’s one of my favourite waves. It’s big, it’s gnarly, it’s cool for everyone watching.”
