George Pittar of Australia has broken an eight-year drought by winning the Western Australia Margaret River Pro, stunning Brazilian great Gabriel Medina in the final to claim his first World Surf League (WSL) championship tour title. The last time he competed at this event, a mainstay stop on the WSL calendar, the outcome was vastly different.
The Manly-born, Vanuatu-raised surfer arrived in Western Australia in May last year needing a series of wins in heavy conditions to avoid the championship tour's mid-season cut. However, a round of 32 loss to Brazil's Miguel Pupo ended Pittar's rookie campaign prematurely. After trudging up the Margaret River main break steps, a deflated Pittar found a quiet corner in the athletes' area, sitting on a railing amid drying wetsuits, a towel covering his head, and his face in his hands. He remained motionless for 15 minutes, disconsolate as his dream ended before it truly began.
On Sunday, before contesting the final of this year's event, the 23-year-old returned to the same spot. "Just before that final, I went and sat just where I sat last year when I fell off tour," he said after defeating Medina. "It's kinda crazy how different the feelings are."
After falling off the tour, Pittar climbed a mountain to return, finishing fourth in the second-tier Challenger Series—a grueling slog of far-flung waves and hardened competitors. Following a strong start to the season at Bells Beach earlier this month, Pittar arrived in the West to ascend another mountain.
He opened his event against two-time world champion Felipe Toledo. The Brazilian had the better of the opening exchanges before Pittar nailed an eight-point ride to win the heat. After seeing off Italy's Leo Fioravanti in the next round, another Brazilian was waiting in the quarter-finals on Saturday: reigning world champion Yago Dora. Pittar struggled for much of the 35-minute heat, failing to piece together a score to rival Dora. But with five seconds on the clock, he paddled into a right-hand wall and produced three big hacks to find the points he needed, winning by a mere 0.07 points.
On Sunday, it was another heat and another Brazilian ex-world champion—Pittar saw off Italo Ferreira in the semi-final, finding the better opportunities in a close encounter. Then, another heat, another Brazilian world champion: three-time WSL winner Medina, a former Margaret River Pro victor, stood between Pittar and his maiden championship tour event victory.
"Seven world titles—eight if you count the coach [Medina's coach, former Brazilian world champion Adriano de Souza]," noted beachside interviewer Vaughan Blakey on the broadcast. Pittar, in just his 11th WSL event, had beaten them all. A wave scored at nine points, the highest of the competition, clinched the final with an exclamation point.
It was, Pittar remarked afterwards, the first event he had won since a junior "grom" competition when he was only 15. After a childhood surfing perfect, empty waves in Vanuatu—Pittar is fluent in the local language, Bislama, and has a cult following among Ni-Vanuatu surf fans—the transition to competitive surfing was not necessarily an easy one. He was never hyped as a surf prodigy nor won junior world titles. But with his smooth, flowing style and powerful turns, Pittar increasingly looks at home among the world's best.
Coming after such a difficult 2025 season, Pittar's first competition win in almost a decade felt even sweeter. "We had such a hard year last year, falling off tour," he said. "It was hard, man. It felt like we were just pushing shit uphill." Following those lows, Pittar has returned to the tour with newfound confidence. After winning his semi-final on Sunday morning, his compatriots went searching for an Australian flag—such was their confidence that the underdog would triumph against Medina. It was the same confidence he channelled to victory.
"I had to [have that confidence]," said Pittar, draped in the flag. "I can't think I'm just another number making up the rankings any more. I want to be on here, I want to be a competitor, I want to be at the top. I just feel—even if it's fake confidence, fucking believe it. I'm frothing."
At the competition venue earlier this week, a site of such mixed emotions for Pittar, the Empire of the Sun song "Walking on a Dream" played over the speaker system. The tune resonated with the Australian. "That's what it has felt like this week, honestly," he said.
The Australian now heads to the next event of the year on the Gold Coast starting on Friday as the second-best surfer in the world rankings. With his versatility across big faces and big barrels, this is unlikely to be the last the world hears from George Pittar. What a difference a year makes. "I can't believe I just did it," he said. "Fucking oath, I won a CT [championship tour event]."
