Sally Fitzgibbons wins WSL event in California where 2028 Olympics will be surfed

On the same day Sally Fitzgibbons was voted on to the Australian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, the veteran star added a title to her trophy cabinet by winning the WSL’s US Open of surfing at Huntington Beach in California, the possible site for the 2028 Games.

Fitzgibbons, who surfed at the Tokyo Olympics but fell agonisingly short of qualifying for Paris, won the event for a second time, 13 years after her first win, and after rising to the top of the Challenger series is on track to return to the main tour in 2025.

The 33-year-old has missed the mid-season cut the past two years but said the “fire” was always burning in her and the win was an emotional one.

“I look up at my mum, she’s up on the pier looking down, it’s been such a special week,” Fitzgibbons said.

“I just love that I can keep showing up, you never know what could be around the corner. It could be my day. It just feels so special.

“It was pretty much a perfect day for me. You’ve just got to keep the belief going. I love doing this so much.

“I’m so proud of that young kid that was so homesick to come over (to the US) at 14. I didn’t even make it to the airport, I was crying the whole way here. Now it’s a home, through all the ups and downs, this is what it’s all about. Surfing is life. I’m just so stoked.”

The site for the surfing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is yet to be confirmed, but Huntington Beach has been the host of the WSL finals for the past two years.

Despite the result lifting her standing for 2025, Fitzgibbons was less focused on the future and instead just revelling in every moment she still has on tour.

“I’ve stopped connecting the dots, I just enjoy every individual event,” she said.

“It’s like climbing a mountain. It’s so tough. I just really appreciate being able to stand here right now.”

As the Paris Olympics concluded, the AOC confirmed Fitzgibbons was among the new members to the AOC Athletes’ Commission after voting at the Games.

She joins cyclist Georgia Baker, Joshua Hicks (rowing), Henry Hutchison (rugby), Anabelle Smith (diving) and Alyce Wood (canoe sprint).