Australia’s Tyler Wright makes surfing history with second Pipe Pro title | Surfing

Australia’s Tyler Wright has made surfing history, becoming the first woman to win Hawaii’s iconic Pipe Pro event twice as she snapped her title drought. The two-time world champion beat American defending world champion Caitlin Simmers in a low-scoring final on Sunday (AEDT) at Banzai Pipeline.

Wright won the first women’s Pipe Pro in 2020 and Simmers took out the event a year ago. Simmers was shut down on a wave with a minute left, and Wright won the opening round of the season 7.70 to 3.94.

Wright only finished 10th last year and had not won a World Surf League event since 2023 at Bells Beach. The 30-year-old Australia said winning Pipe again was “epic” after she was greeted on the beach by her wife Lilli.

“The whole off-season, spending a lot of time just figuring out how to get the joy back a little bit – last year I was injured a lot more than I feel people thought,” Wright said. “So to come back and have a really nice off-season with my wife, it’s so special, this is such a special win. It means so much.”

Simmers is yet to turn 20 and Wright is mindful that she had to beat the new guard of women’s surfing to win again. “I know I was up against the kids, who have been doing backdoor shootouts all day,” Wright said.

Wright and Simmers also had big wipeouts in the final, where the Australian’s 6.00 was the only significant wave ride.

“It was really flunky. We both got flogged on our first waves, it rattled me a little bit,” Wright said. “There was heaps of water back-washing it with this tide. Then on the last one, I got absolutely smoked.”

Wright spoke of having a different mindset and how well that paid off at Pipeline.

“It’s so nice to just enjoy it and to really have that ownership … not just be here and constantly panicked about things,” she said. “I was a little bit scared when I was surfing, because I’ve been injured so many times … this has been really nice.”

In the men’s final, local surfer Barron Mamiya became the first surfer to win successive Pipe events since the late Andy Irons in 2005-06. The Hawaiian and Italian Leo Fioravantia tied on 17.97 in the men’s final, with Mamiya’s top wave score of 9.80 to 8.87 breaking the deadlock.

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Simmers beat Molly Picklum in their semi-final, while fellow Australians Isabella Nichols and rookie George Pittar were knocked out in their quarter-finals earlier on Sunday. After beating 2023 world champion Caroline Marks in their quarter-final, Wright dispatched another American, Lakey Peterson, to reach the final.

Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater also lost his quarter-final, a day after the American great posted his 100th win at Pipeline. Brazilian Ian Gouveia, whose father Fabio competed against Slater, won their heat. Three days before his 53rd birthday, Slater did not rule out another wildcard entry if invited.

“We’ll see, hopefully I get another one some day,” said Slater, who is no longer on the tour full-time.

But Slater became a father again for the second time last year and his focus now is on domestic matters. “[I will] enjoy my time off, teach my kid how to poop on the toilet – that’s about it,” he said.

The Pipe Pro was on the last day of the event waiting period, after it was put on hold for a week because of the conditions.