At the 2022 Pipe Pro, local North Shore, Oahu native, Moana Jones Wong, blew the world’s best women surfers out of the water at the world’s deadliest wave.
Wong was a wildcard in the event; but she surfed her way all the way to the podium, taking down competitive surfing heavyweights like Tatiana Weston-Webb, two-time world champion Tyler Wright, and five-time world champ and Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore in the final with a decisive, absolutely dominating win.
Since then, she’s been appropriately dubbed, the “Queen of Pipeline.”
And this year, at the 2024 Lexus Pipe Pro, Wong is returning to the event to give the world’s best female surfers a run for the money. So, in anticipation of the upcoming kickoff event to the season – the Pipe Pro runs January 29th-February 10th – the WSL did a lookback on her ‘22 win.
The WSL wrote:
“Moana Jones Wong has been charging Pipeline from the time she was 12 years old. At the 2022 Pipe Pro, the women were placed back in the draw to surf one of the world’s gnarliest waves. Moana entered as a Wildcard at the event, going on to take down World Champions like Tyler Wright in the semifinals and Carissa Moore in the finals to bring home a historic Pipeline win in her backyard! Relive one of the biggest moments in surfing as we gear up for a return to the infamous break.”
Regarding her relationship with Pipe, the Queen commented:
“It’s been a long journey. It’s been really challenging – sometimes frustrating, sometimes so rewarding. At Pipe, you’ve got to pay your dues. I’m always scared. Every time I paddle out. But if you really want it badly, you can kind of forget about it for just a second. And then you can make amazing things happen.”
However, while she’s leading the charge currently for the women at Pipeline, she thinks that the entire field is pushing the boundaries in terms of progression.
“I think this is a turning point in women’s surfing,” she said. “It’s going to push all of us to do things we never thought we could.”
Stay tuned for the Pipe Pro event window, kicking off January 29th.
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