Margaret River’s Jacob Willcox has secured his first Challenger Series title, capturing victory at Sunday’s Newcastle Surfest and propelling himself to the top of the World Surf League (WSL) rankings.
The win at Newcastle follows Willcox’s strong performance at last month’s Margaret River Pro, where he advanced as a local qualifier to the quarterfinals, signaling his rising momentum in professional surfing.
Willcox, alongside women’s winner Francisca Veselko of Portugal, overcame a highly competitive field intent on using the Challenger Series as a stepping stone back to the elite Championship Tour.
“This has been a long time coming,” Willcox reflected after the victory. “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 closely contested final, Willcox traded solid mid-range scores with Tahiti’s Kauli Vaast before the ocean’s pace slowed dramatically. The surfers waited over ten minutes for suitable waves, with a final surge in the closing seconds offering Vaast one last opportunity — which he was unable to capitalize on.
Willcox clinched the win with a two-wave total of 12.30 points 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’s journey has not been without setbacks. After making his Championship Tour debut in 2024 following years of near misses, he was cut mid-season and failed to re-qualify for 2025. Despite this, the goofy-footed surfer has long been recognized as a potential title contender since his junior years, notably beating legend Kelly Slater as a teenage wildcard in Portugal.
With this significant Challenger Series victory, Willcox now looks to build on his success and regain a permanent spot among surfing’s elite.
