Willcox ‘boxes on' to Margs quarterfinals
Just surfing in competition at iconic Margaret River slab wave 'The Box' was a dream come true for local charger Jacob Willcox.
Adding an 8.17 barrel ride en-route to another upset heat win was the bonus.
Willcox, the local trials qualifier who has already taken out world No.1 Italo Ferreira, added another Brazilian to his victory list on Wednesday, beating Joao Chianca in deep 6-8ft barrel conditions.
'I've dreamt of that moment for a long time,' Willcox said after winning their Margaret River Pro round-of-16 heat with a two-wave score of 12.50 to Chianca's 4.07.
'When I heard they were pretty keen to go to The Box, I was so fired up. It's probably not the best Box ever but just being able to compete out there was so special.
'Getting to watch the comp out there a few times but not be involved in it, I was just wishing to get a go.'
The Box, a right-hand slabbing barrel about 700m north of Main Break, is the only wave of its type on the World Surf League championship tour circuit, but hasn't been used in competition since 2019.
Willcox said he had surfed it a lot growing up and felt at home inside the tubes.
'On the backhand, I'm just looking for something that's going to let me in because as soon as you disconnect on you backside it's so hard to get traction again through the barrel,' he said.
'My first surf ever out there, I went one of these south ones and ate s..., broke my toes and ripped my wet-suit.
'Since then I've been building up the relationship a bit.
'That was a pretty fun heat, I don't think I did as good as I could have done out there.
'It was kind of hard trying to balance getting the best wave and then trying to compete as well.
'Joao is such a hard competitor, especially for a wave like that. He got one at the start that if he had made this could have been a different story. I guess I had a bit of local luck on my side.' Willcox had already knocked out the world No.1 on Tuesday Credit: World Surf League
Making the quarterfinals is already Willcox's equal-best CT result and he said he wanted to ride the momentum into this year's Challenger Series in the hope of re-qualifying surfing's elite tour.
The 27-year-old was a rookie on tour in 2024 after years of qualification near-misses but was cut after only a few months following his early exit from last year's Margaret River Pro.
'I feel like it (my career) has had some ups and downs but it is so character building,' he said.
'I feel like I've almost fallen in love with that side of it. It makes you resilient and makes you want to keep pushing. I'm super-motivated for this year. I've had six months off competing and getting to come back now and compete back home, it's the perfect warm-up for the year to come.'
Willcox will face young American Crosby Colapinto in the quarterfinals.
Colapinto secured his place on tour just beat beating Hawaiian Jackson Bunch in a win-or-miss-the-cut heat. Griffin Colapinto of the United States surfs in Heat 1. Credit: Cait Miers / World Surf League
Earlier, Colapinto's older brother Griffin rode one of the waves of the day, a deep barrel that saw him emerge from from the foam and raise his arms in amazement before scoring a 9.00 on his way to beating Australian wild-card Mikey McDonagh.
'I feel like that is one of the best heats of my life,' he said. 'Getting barrelled in the jersey is the dream.
'That 9.00, I was kind of baffled myself. I got the the bottom and thought I could stand tall and cruise and next thing the wave was so fast the foam ball just lifted me up and you can kind of see my fin come out and I was almost going 180 degrees backwards and I thought I blew it . . . but then it shot me back out.'
Leonardo Fioravanti of Italy, Connor O'Leary of Japan/Australia and Barron Mamiya of Hawaii also advanced to the quarterfinals before organisers made the call to move competition back to Main Break.
Watch the WSL Margaret River Pro live and free on 7PLUS
MEN'S ROUND-OF-16 RESULTS
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto USA 16.00 (9.00, 7.00) def. Mikey McDonough AUS 2.43 (1.50, 0.93)
HEAT 2: Leonardo Fioravanti ITA 12.16 (6.83, 5.33) def. Miguel Pupo BRA 7.04 (5.17, 1.87)
HEAT 3: Connor O'Leary JPN 8.50 (5.67, 2.83) def. Kanoa Igarashi JPN 2.50 (1.50, 1.00)
HEAT 4: Barron Mamiya HAW 15.17 (8.00, 7.17) def. Jake Marshall USA 5.73 (3.33, 2.50)
HEAT 5: Jacob Willcox AUS 12.50 (8.17, 4.33) def. Joao Chianca BRA 4.07 (3.70, 2.17)
HEAT 6: Crosby Colapinto USA 6.53 (4.50, 2.03) def. Jackson Bunch HAW 3.34 (2.17, 1.17)
HEAT 7: Jordy Smith RSA v Marco Mignot FRA
HEAT 8: Alan Cleland MEX v Imaikalani deVault HAW
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