Is there a more beautiful surfer in the professional game than the incomparable Steph Gilmore? And we’re just talking style, here. Gilmore, who’s surfing was pretty much designed to fit into J-Bay’s reeling walls, took down Lakey Peterson in the final of the 2018 J-Bay Open. It was her first win at the event and Gilmore made it clear that she has no plans of letting Peterson run away with the World Title as she reclaimed the Yellow Jersey.
Double-overhead sets greeted the women this morning in South Africa as they’d waited most of the week to finish up the contest that saw Filipe Toledo win on the men’s side. It was far from an easy run for Gilmore, who just slipped by fellow Australian Bronte Macaulay in the quarters. She then had to take out a fired up Tatiana Weston-Webb in the semifinals to meet Peterson, who, btw, looked completely on point throughout the event.
Gilmore admitted after that there’s a nice rivalry forming between her and Peterson. But the Californian has yet to beat Gilmore in a final. “I think I was just stressing too much about everything,” Gilmore said when asked about her tight heats to make it into the final. “Everyone was telling me that this is my wave, this is my place. And then I saw Lakey smash it and get huge scores…so I started thinking that maybe this isn’t my wave. I was just hoping she would tire herself out before the final. But it’s nice to be a part of a rival again. Rivals are what make this sport exciting and beautiful. I get inspired by great rivals.”
Putting the contest on hold in order to to run the finals in big surf with the predicted swell proved to be the right call from WSL officals. The women made fantastic work of the nearly-perfect surf. “It’s so cool that the WSL waited for the swell for us,” Peterson gushed. “For the women to get waves like this in J-Bay, it’s everything we could’ve dreamed of.”
The finals loss moves Peterson into second behind Gilmore, followed by Weston-Webb, Johanne Defay and Tyler Wright.
