Margaret River firebrand Jacob Willcox claims Challenger Series win at Newcastle
Sunday's contest at Newcastle's Surfest followed Willcox's impressive run as a local qualifier all the way to the quarterfinals at last month's Margaret River Pro.
Willcox and women's competitor Francisca Veselko from Portugal overcame a massive crowd of contestants all eager to use the series as a launch pad back to the top-rated Championship Tour.
'This has been a long time coming,' Willcox said.
'I've had a lot of losses to get this win and it feels incredible to finally get it. It's taken a lot of hard work to get here, and that was the best moment of my life on the beach just then.
'Coming in and having my crew tell me that I probably had it and share that moment with them was so special.'
In the final, Willcox traded mid-range scores with Tahiti's Kauli Vaast, taking a small lead, before the ocean began to slow.
Both were left waiting for more than 10 minutes for a wave until a quick flurry in the dying seconds gave Vaast one more chance.
But he couldn't convert, leaving Willcox to take the win with a two-wave total of 12.30 to Vaast's 11.56.
'The final was pretty slow in the end, but I was just telling myself that sometimes the ocean just gets on your side and gives you some luck, and you find some rhythm, and I feel like this week I found some rhythm and some luck,' Willcox said.
'That's the thing with our sport, you just never know when you're going to get your moment. My moment was today, so I was stoked.'
Willcox was a championship tour rookie in 2024 after years of near-misses in qualification, but he lasted only a few months before missing the mid-season cut and failing to re-qualify for 2025.
The goofy-footer has been pegged as a title threat since his junior years, beating Kelly Slater as a teenage wildcard in Portugal, but has struggled to make a huge impact in the competitive arena.
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