Olympic silver medal spurring on Margaret River’s Jack Robinson as he chases World Surfing League title

Margaret River’s Jack Robinson says the silver medal he won at the Olympic Games earlier this month is spurring him on as he chases his first World Surf League championship title. On his Olympic debut, Robinson won his first medal at the Teahupo’o surf break in Tahiti by beating a talented line-up which included world No.1 John John Florence, eventual bronze medallist Gabriel Medina and compatriot world No.5 Ethan Ewing. After being beaten by local hope Kaali Vaast in the gold medal match, he is now back in action at the penultimate event of the WSL championship season at the iconic Cloudbreak in Fiji, where the tour has returned after a seven-year absence. Ranked at No.3, Robinson will need to ensure he stays inside the top five to qualify for the winner-takes-all final event, which will be held in California next month. Speaking before the Fiji event started, Robinson said he was delighted to be an Olympic medallist but his second-placed finish was providing plenty of motivation to go one better in the WSL. “I want to chase that, even more than before,” he told AAP. “The Olympics was just so exciting, coming down to the final, and it fuels the fire competitively even more so that’s super cool.” Surfing appeared for the second time at the 2024 Games, having made its Olympic debut in Tokyo three years ago. The sport was a discretionary selection at its first two Olympics but will become part of the core program starting in Los Angeles in four years time, which Robinson said was a great step forward. “There’s so many more people that the Olympics reaches outside of surfing, it’s way bigger, even like grandmas and granddads and people that maybe wouldn’t always watch it are like ‘I watched you in Tahiti’ so it’s been really good for the sport,” he said. In his typically laid-back style, Robinson said his early days in Fiji had been spent enjoying everything the island paradise had to offer. “I’m in a bit of a different space and I’m not stressing, I’m just enjoying it,” he said. “I’ve just been fishing here and enjoying this place more than worrying about the contest.” The competition was put on hold for the first two days due to low swell.