Margaret River’s Jack Robinson knocked out in first match of World Surf League championship tour finals

Margaret River’s Jack Robinson will have to wait another year to achieve his dream of winning surfing’s world title, being knocked out of the World Surf League championship tour finals in his first match at Trestles Beach in California on Saturday. The Olympic silver medallist, who came into the finals as the No.3 seed, was up against Brazil’s Italo Ferreira, who had earlier dispatched Australian Ethan Ewing in his the match of the one-day, winner-takes-all event. Robinson struggled to overcome a slow start, with a pair of air reverse rides giving his Ferreira a two-wave total of 14.57, which he was only able to match with a 9.94 score. Ferreira also beat second-ranked Griffin Colapinto to make it all the way through to a best-of-three title match with top seed John John Florence, but the legendary American broke Brazil’s five-year run of title wins by needing only two heats to be crowned world champion for a third time. Posting on Instagram after the finals, Robinson said he was “grateful for such a challenging competitive year”. “Surfing with the best in the world, taking my son and family everywhere, surfing in the Olympics, just feeling so blessed to be here,” the post reads. “Obviously I wanted to go further in the finals, but I know my time will come and this is just another step towards my goal. “Thanks for all the support from my family, sponsors, team and people.” The WSL championship tour has now ended for the year, with Robinson winning two of the 11 events this year — his hometown Margaret River Pro in April and the Sunset Beach Pro in Hawaii in February — to go with his Olympic silver claimed in Tahiti in August. Next year’s finals will be held at the legendary Cloudbreak in Fiji but the rest of the tour schedule is yet to be confirmed.