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The 26-year-old, preparing herself for a surf-off with fellow Australian Tyler Wright for this year’s title after bombing out of the quarter-finals at the season-ending Maui Pro, launched into celebrations after Wright was beaten in the event final.
The 20-year-old from Lennox Head had to settle for a runner-up finish in the world standings for a second consecutive year after being undone by local favourite Carissa Moore in the final. That result was enough for Gilmore to claim the crown and move within touching distance of Beachley’s record of seven women’s titles.
“That seems like such a large number of world titles and Layne won five in a row which was so incredible and something I didn’t do,” Gilmore told AAP.
“I really admire everything she achieved in her career. I’ll wait and see. It’s definitely not something I set out to do, but of course winning six now it’s a lot closer than I expected.”
Gilmore’s joy was in stark contrast to earlier in the day when she angrily slapped the water after falling to American Courtney Conlogue in the quarter-finals. That result opened the door for Wright and another Australian, Sally Fitzgibbons, to push for the title. Fitzgibbons, a three-time championship runner-up, immediately relinquished that opportunity when she fell to South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag in the following quarter-final. The 23-year-old slumped to her board after the loss and appeared to weep but later spoke of her desire to bounce back from another championship disappointment.
“It’s still a dream and I’m going to go after it,” she said.
Gilmore says this year’s three-way all-Australian race for the title had made it the toughest of her six wins and she expects an even tougher defence in 2015 with two-time world champion Moore and rising stars such as Buitendag and Conlogue providing opposition.
