YOU BLOODY RIPPA: Aussie Tyler Wright Is The New Surfing World Champ

Some sporting scripts kind of write themselves. Tyler Wright‘s 2016 season is definitely one of them.
The 22-year-old from Lennox Head sealed her first-ever World Surf League World Championship victory at the Roxy Pro France earlier this morning (AUS time) by making the final of the tournament.
Wright’s only rival for the title, American Courtney Conlogue, fell out of the tournament in a tense semi-final, meaning Wright has an unassailable lead in the world rankings with one event in the season remaining.
Wright finished second in the France event, behind winner and three-time previous world champ Carissa Moore.
The win caps off a massive and extremely emotional season for Wright, who has amassed a staggering four wins on the tour so far. In December of last year, her older brother and fellow pro-surfer Owen Wright suffered a serious brain injury during a fall at Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline. Owen, during a routine wave, fell and hit his head, suffering a severe concussion and minor bleeding on the brain.
It’s been Owen’s recovery and rehab from that fall, coupled with the death of a beloved uncle, that’s pushed Wright to her maiden World Championship, where she now joins the likes of Layne Beachley, Stephanie Gilmore, Wendy Botha, Chelsea Georgeson, Pauline Menczer, and Phyllis O’Donnell as World Champion women surfers from Australia.

Back in July, Wright spoke of the emotional maturing she had to go through in order to perform to the best of her abilities, particularly in the wake of her brother’s injury.

“It’s been a crazy injury and a hard one as a family to deal with. It’s surprising. Not a lot of people know what it involves and how to really take care of someone in that position.” 


“For years I’ve been in world title races, but the whole time I’ve said I didn’t care and it was 100 per cent true. I’ve been on tour since I was 16. Eventually you just grow up, and you know what? I had to grow up as well. I had bigger responsibilities.”

“It made me realise I really do want to do that — I find it enjoyable, it makes me happy and I love it.”


GO. YOU. GOOD. THING.

The last WSL event of the year is the Billabong/Roxy Pro in Maui, and is set for November 23 until December 5.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Gualter Fatia/Getty.

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