Wins Gold Coast Pro at Snapper Rocks after two-year break
Melissa Woods
Stephanie Gilmore made an epic return to Snapper Rocks, winning her seventh home title after a two-year break from the tour.
Eight-time world champion turned down Luana Silva’s challenge to claim the Gold Coast Pro title 21 years after her first win, denying the young Brazilian her first World Surf League title.
Australian fans had a double-take on Monday as Queensland’s Ethan Ewing edged Japan’s Connor O’Leary in the men’s final to win his first tour event since 2023.
Gilmore, who returned to the Championship Tour full-time in 2026 after a long break, found his rhythm at the third stop of the year and bested the 21-year-old Silva with a time of 17.33 to 14.07.
It was his first tour win since July 2022, when he won his last world title, and Gilmore admitted he wasn’t sure if he could win another event.
“Oh my god, I really didn’t think I would win an event this year – I can’t believe I won this event,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting better with each race and finally put the pieces together in the final.
“Maybe I was accepting the fact that I wasn’t the best surfer in the freestyle days anymore, but if I can put it together in this heat, then I can go all the way again. I seriously didn’t think I could go all the way to the win, but if it was going to happen, this is it.”
Having won her first Gold Coast event as a 17-year-old schoolgirl wildcard on Snapper in 2005, the now 38-year-old proved she had lost none of her strength in the final.
Gilmore achieved the best score of the day, scoring an incredible 9.50 with his signature sharp carves and transitions.
The men’s final was a tight affair and Ewing took a narrow lead in the early exchanges with O’Leary, who is from Sydney but changed his citizenship to Japan in 2023 to honor his mother’s legacy.
O’Leary needed only a 6.67 to take the lead and had more than half the heat to find it, but neither surfer could improve on his two-wave total with Ewing prevailing 14.56 to 14.17.
The 2023 world title runner-up has made a poor start to the year but was hoping victory, which took him to world No.4, would kick-start his campaign.
“I haven’t won in about three years and I competed against Connor, he’s a very good backhand surfer and competitor,” said Ewing, 27, who hails from Stradbroke Island.
“It was such a big goal of mine to win here, I’m an hour away from home and I used to come here and watch this event as a little kid, so this was at the top of the list to win.
“It’s very important for my campaign, I’ll go back to work tomorrow, but let’s go tonight.”
While Silva missed out on the title, he and fellow Brazilian Gabriel Medina won the car as dominant surfers in the three-race Australian swing and will both wear the yellow leader’s jersey at the next tour stop in New Zealand.
