Photo: Trevor Moran / Red Bull Content Pool
What is the best thing about eight-time world champion Steph Gilmore? It’s probably her down-to-earth approach and her appeal to the groms. She is the one person who embraces every single grom who approaches her at any event or at the beach, and chats with them, as well as listens to their hopes and dreams. It is this very friendly and endearing nature, reflected further in her stylish approach to surfing, that makes her the stuff of legends.
The other best thing about Steph is her coolness. There is nothing false or accentuated. In the world of non-stop shameless claims and self-appointed legends, she lets her surfing do the talking. Just for one minute, stop to think about a couple of our top CT surfers and how they would claim a 10-point ride to apoplexy, while Steph exudes the power of the non-claim.
I asked my 12-year-old daughter, a little surf competition machine who met Steph at a signing at JBay and claimed her subsequently as one of her favorite surfers ever, what makes her special. She told me, ‘Steph just seemed so normal,’ and isn’t that the best compliment for an eight-time world surfing champion?
Stephanie was in South Africa recently, attending the JBay Classic Specialty Event and continuing her path of some time off from the Championship Tour with her old/new sponsor, Rip Curl.
After a very MOR forecast, Supers turned on for the event. Six-foot sets, endless walls, and for every heat imaginable, including a world champ heat, an event champ heat, a local legends heat, an expression session and more. Everyone got their chance to surf perfect Supers. We caught up with Stephanie and chatted about JBay and so much more.
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JBay. Gotta love it.
It was epic. Getting to surf perfect waves at Supers with nobody out. It is the name of the game, isn’t it?
It wasn’t really an event but more of a showcase/specialty gig at JBay. Are you planning on competing in any other events this year? Or will you hold off for the remainder of the year, continue taking it a bit easy, and restart in 2025? Is there a plan?
The plan was to get back into competitive vests, but I don’t know how I feel about that right now, to be honest. Going on Search trips has been super cool, and I want to do more of that sort of stuff and make some good movies one way or another.
Talking of The Search, have you had some good trips recently?
Yes, we had a trip to Indonesia with Mason Ho and Tom Curren, and we are coming up for another Search trip to Chile in September.
Chile – the land of endless, perfect, barreling, cold lefts.
It might have Mick Fanning and Gabriel Medina on this one, depending on whether Gabby goes for a world title and does all that stuff. Then it’ll be Mick and I, and hopefully, we can get more girls on a Search trip as well.
Underneath it all, do you have to make some hard decisions at some stage?
Not really. I could say that I want to compete again, and anything could still happen. You can get injured or have some drama right up to the day before an event. There is always room for movement. There has to be, but I don’t know; I am just cruising for now.
You’ve been on the tour for so long.
It has been 17 years without a break. I’m thinking of this time off as a long service leave.
A sabbatical.
Exactly – I think I deserve a year or two off.
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Being with Rip Curl now and having The Seach options must be cool.
It is. Remember that I was with Rip Curl when I was 12 years old and surfed on the team for ten years. I won four world titles with Rip Curl.
That’s all great, but what about another world title? A ninth?
I know!
And a tenth?
Now, with the new format and being able to win it in a day, and the way I did it the last time, coming in fifth and going all the way, it feels more achievable. Staying consistently at number one for the whole year feels like it takes more work.
It is very challenging to keep up that energy level, and that focus for an entire season. Now, you can still make a few mistakes, have a cracking day, and win the finals.
So, do you actually prefer it?
Well, put it this way, I don’t think it’s fair, no. I’m honest and open about that. When I beat Carissa in 2022, I first said to her, ‘I think you’re the real World Champ.’
But having said that, it was also maybe the greatest performance of my career because I came from fifth and had to beat everyone to get there. All the world titles I won, I won by sitting on the beach and watching someone lose. So that feeling of being in the water, you have to surf against world number two, and that’s what sports are about.
Unfortunately, surfing as a sport is hard to manage. You know, you get a John John or a Carissa, and they go on a tear and win five events, and then we’re all just playing catch-up. I’m sure that most world champions will tell you that they want to win, in the water, against world number two.
Andrew Shield/WSL via Getty
Next year looks a bit different, though. How do you feel about that?
They’re taking the finals to Fiji; I liked Trestles. It is an even playing field with a right and a left, and that’s what they wanted. It should be at Pipeline, essentially; it’s a right and a left, but Fiji is also cool. It’s going to be an amazing shake-up for the world title now. If I think about the guys who can win at Trestles, I don’t believe Jack Robinson can win the world title at Trestles, but 100 percent he can at Fiji.
So it’s pretty cool, there will be some surprises. You could also see someone more of an underdog sneak into the top five who is a beast in big surf and could win the whole thing and win a world title, in theory. It’s an exciting element that we haven’t seen before in surfing. Although, it will just suck to go into it in the first heat and lose.
Jokes aside, do you actually think about your ninth and tenth world titles a lot? Are you quietly training?
I’m going to see how I feel. Most importantly, I’ve got a lot of weaknesses in my surfing. And I want to work on them. The girls are charging now – charging Pipe, charging Teahupo’o, and if I want to get the results and be in the running in the future, then I’ve got to go and put in the work. Also, having this free time, going on trips with the boys, and doing stuff will be really important for me. But yeah, nine is pretty cool. Kelly’s got eleven, so it would be cool to win twelve.
Kelly is very much in the picture at 52.
Kelly definitely encourages everyone to keep going—as long as they can. He has shown us that you need to look after your health and keep going. He has proven that there’s no age limit anymore.
You can just keep going for as long as you like.
Yep, so I’m still around for a while.