April 26 (Reuters) - Australian George Pittar capitalised on a rare mistake from three-time world champion Gabriel Medina in the final to win his first World Surf League championship tour event at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro on Sunday.
Veteran Californian Lakey Peterson claimed her second Margaret River title with a win over Brazil's Luana Silva in the women's competition, lifting her to equal first in the 2026 championship tour rankings.
Sunday's conditions were clean, overhead and geared towards high-performance turns at the powerful reef break, a big improvement from the wild, onshore waves that blighted the venue for much of the past week.
"I can't even believe it," said Pittar, who grew up surfing shallow reef breaks in Vanuatu. "Those match-ups I had this comp, every heat I felt like, 'There's no way (I can win)' but they just gifted me waves...it's crazy man. I haven't won a comp since I was like 15 years old!"
Pittar, who was knocked out of the top-tier tour at the same event last year, had a tough run into his first world tour final, facing off against reigning world champion Yago Dora in their quarterfinal and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist Italo Ferreira in a tight semifinal.
Pittar got the better of the early part of the final, notching up a 6.17 after two lower scores by Medina.
The Brazilian fought back with a 6.83 of his own to take the lead before a rare mistake opened the door to the Australian. Medina paddled for a wave and missed it, handing priority for the next good wave to Pittar who promptly took advantage on a solid right-hander, tearing it to pieces for a near-perfect 9 out of 10.
While Medina couldn't claim the victory, he climbed to No.1 in the rankings and Brazilians now hold four of the top five tour positions on the men's tour, boding well for yet another title. Apart from Hawaiian John John Florence's three titles in 2016, 2017 and 2024, Brazilian surfers have won the men's world championship every year since 2014.
After a tentative start in the women's competition, Silva took the lead late in the final against Peterson as she notched up a series of sharp turns for a 6.83 out of 10 and two-wave total of 11.83.
But with the clock ticking down, Peterson fought back with a 6.40 of her own and a total of 12.23 to claim her second Margaret River Pro title.
"That's why you do it, though, those are the moments. I loved it. I knew she was going to get the score, and I knew I was going to have under five minutes to try again," Peterson said.
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
