p Stephanie Gilmore
AUSTRALIAN SURFING HALL OF FAME
Inducted Into the
N
o competitor in the history of professional surfing has made such a dramatic debut as Stephanie Gilmore did in 2007. Winning four of the eight events, 19-year-old Stephanie won the World Title in her first year on Tour – a feat unprecedented in the sport. But few were surprised. Stephanie was already causing a stir after winning her first ASP event two years earlier as a wildcard aged just 17. It was her home event, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast, and left no-one in doubt the young girl from Kingscliff in northern New South Wales had arrived. She repeated the effort as a wildcard at the Havianas Beachley Classic in Sydney the following year and along with a triumphant assault on the World Qualifying Series, the Stephanie Gilmore World Domination Tour was poised to begin.
Jumping on a surfboard for the first time when she was nine, Stephanie had a natural affinity with the surf and having the waverich northern New South Wales and Gold Coast region as her playground it didn’t take long before people were taking notice. Schooled on the southern Gold Coast pointbreaks, Stephanie could not have asked for better inspiration than fellow locals Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson. Honing her skills in this competitive proving ground, Stephanie combined her natural style with great power that would prove unstoppable on the Women’s Tour. After her debut World Title triumph, Stephanie retained the crown for the next three years. Sadly, it was not another competitor that would stop her in her tracks, but a brutal assault at her home in the Tweed Heads just prior to the start of the 2011 season. Stephanie relinquished the
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