Fantastic conditions graced Manly Beach today as the world’s best longboard surfers glided into action at the GWM Sydney Surf Pro, opening event of the 2022 WSL Longboard Tour (LT). Surfers opened the GWM Sydney Surf Pro on the same beach where Midget Farrelly and Phyllis O’Donnel won the World Title of Surfing in 1964, surfing the same traditional style of that original era. Hanging Ten along with stylish drop knee cut backs being the ingredients for high scores in the pristine small, peeling waves.
Brazil’s Chloe Calmon (BRA, above) was the days standout surfer with excellent wave scores of 9.23 (out of a possible 10) and 8.40 as her back up to accrue a day’s highest 17.63 (out of a possible 20) heat total to comprehensively win her opening round heat. The multiple-WSL Champion runner-up, Calmon continues to showcase her experience in beautiful waves with her abilities to match.
“I’m so happy to be back in Australia after two years, having a great time in Manly, I find a lot of similarities with the beach breaks I surf at home in Rio,” Calmon said. “It’s also great being here with my coach and Manly local Matt Chojnacki and I learn a lot about the surfing culture here in the Northern Beaches. The conditions this morning were great for longboarding and I hope it stays like that until the end.”
Australia’s Harrison Roach (AUS, above), 2021 World Title runner-up is the No. 1 seed here in the men’s and started his campaign with style taking a strong opening round heat win. Roach’s approach to the small, pristine waves on offer went unmatched for the men, earning an impressive 15.13 heat total, and set the tone for what could be another World Title contending season.
“It’s great to open the season here in Australia” said Roach. “Especially here at Manly, I’m feeling the history of the sport around Farrelly’s World Title win and this really is a special beach – the waves are really small but on these longer boards they are good and there’s plenty of high scoring potential out there.”
Other standouts on the opening day included Ben Skinner (GBR, above in action at Malibu last year), Kai Sallas (HAW), Honolua Bloomfield (HAW) and Lindsay Steinriede (USA).
With the Challenger Series potentially ready to start tomorrow, the surfing moves will likely transition from soul arches and Hang 10s to full rotation air reverses and alley-oop aerials as the modern short boarders battle the all important opening rounds of the Challenger Series event.
How The WSL Longboard Tour Works
The first two events of the season at Manly Beach and Huntington Beach will be worth up to 5,000 rankings points each, while the final event in Malibu, the Longboard World Championships, will award 10,000 points to the winners. The World Titles will be awarded to the highest-ranked woman and man based on their best two results out of the three events.
CLICK HERE FOR OPENING DAY RESULTS
Now that the early rounds have been completed, the remaining rounds through to finals will integrate with the Challenger Series event which begins tomorrow, running through to Tuesday May 24.
Challenger Series Set To Begin Tomorrow at Manly Beach
In early 2020, Italian Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) took the win of his career at the Sydney Surf Pro Challenger Series literally days before the world stopped due to the pandemic. Fast forward over two years and the twenty three year old is back in Sydney, and looking for another big result so he can return to the CT in 2023. After an equal 5th place finish last week on the Gold Coast, Fioravanti will be looking to keep his momentum going as he returns to his happy hunting ground of Manly Beach.
“I’ve always enjoyed coming to Manly,” Fioravanti said. “I have been coming here since I was so young and competing in the Pro Junior, the QS and now the CS and I’ve always found good results. It’s a great place and has so many Italians living in Sydney so the support is always incredible. I’m feeling really confident after Snapper and love that we are going back-to-back with events so I can gain some more momentum, especially considering it is a place I have won before.”
Fresh off a second place finish at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast Pro presented by Rip Curl, Central Coast phenom Molly Picklum (AUS) is another competitor excited for the quick turn around between events as she looks to bank another solid result on home soil. After competing for the first half of the season on the Championship Tour, Picklum has had a taste of the top level and is all in on getting herself back there by year’s end.
“I’m really excited to be returning to Manly,” Picklum said. “It’s one of the locations we go that has a lot of history in surfing which is cool. It’s definitely a stop where we end up getting all sorts of conditions throughout the event window so you have to be ready for anything which is a fun challenge. I was stoked to make the Final at Snapper but I want to go one step further at Manly and take the win.”
The 2022 GWM Sydney Surf Pro presented by Rip Curl Challenger Series and World Longboard Tour events will run at Manly Beach from May 16 – 24. For more information head to WorldSurfLeauge.com or check the free WSL App.
This event is proudly supported by GWM, Rip Curl, Destination NSW, Bond University, Harvey Norman, Bonsoy, Boost Mobile, Oakberry, Oakley, Dometic Outdoor, Coopers, Northern Beaches Council, Havaianas, Bailey Ladders, and FCS.
