Facing the cut: Sally’s battle for survival

One of Australia’s highest profile surfers is currently logged in a dogged battle not just to survive the World Surf League mid-season cut, but keep her Paris 2024 Olympic dream alive.As the WSL heads to infamous Bells Beach for the Rip Curl Pro starting Tuesday, 11th ranked Fitzgibbons joins eight-times world champion Steph Gilmore (14th) and former world No. 2 Courtney Conlogue (12th) among the big names facing being dumped from the tour if they can’t rise inside the top 10 after the next two events.If that pressure wasn’t intense enough the 2023 season also doubles as Olympic qualification and for Fitzgibbons, who currently serves on the IOC Olympic Programme Commission, missing Paris 2024 would be a devastating blow.But rather than fear of failure, she likens the feeling to the same adrenaline she felt when in the grips of fighting for a world title. “Yeah there’s a lot on the line,” she said. “You try not to throw everything out of the kitchen sink, you’ve got to really trust as the pressure builds that you have the experience and you’ve been here before.“It’s just so immediate, once you look at the cut, oh gosh it’s this event and the next and it’s all on the line.“That is what I love most about sport, when I watch sport and it’s any code there’s like that moment it’s all on the line, it’s so clutch, that do or die battle.“So now surfing has that you have to embrace it. It never feels comfortable but after all these years it’s cool to have that outlet where you feel like a rookie.“The best thing is I have been through this cycle last year (missing the cut) and it is hard.“But you definitely can’t dodge it that’s for sure. You’re going to think about it every single day, when you go to bed, when you wake up, when you go to training so you need to get to know each other (the pressure) and once you sort of call it out, it is so much pressure and it does feel scary, then it seems to just dissipate a little bit and you get on with the job.“My experience even being in the No. 1 spot or the cut bubble, it really is the same emotional experience. As soon as you get close to the thing you want the most, that world title, man your adrenaline is just pulsing all day and all you’re trying to do is calm yourself down all day because it is just so close and you want it so bad.”The equation for Fitzgibbons is simple. Like Gilmore, she needs consistent semi-final or better performances over the next two stops at Bells and Margaret River to feel secure of continuing on the world tour.Fitzgibbons is a sports nut, and has taken inspiration from golf’s Netflix series Full Swing which has profiled athletes like Rory McIlroy who rediscovered winning touch many years between major triumphs.It’s especially inspiring considering Fitzgibbons won Bells in 2012 and her last tour victory came over a year ago.“I liken it to that McIlroy example, a few of them came on and won majors straight away in their career then its been like eight years between drinks and just the discipline and focus it takes,” she said.“If it’s only been what a season and a half since the win at Rottnest, for us that’s not that long ago so you kind of keep hope and faith.”But even if she cops the mid-season chop, the 32-year-old insists she has the backing from her sponsors like Harvey Norman to continue her long career and she is nowhere near the end of her journey.“I can’t wait to open up in the jersey and just do some more surfing,” she said.“The worst case is this cut thing doesn’t work out but there is so much surfing on the other side of that too.“It’s not as if it’s going to hold me back from suiting up and competing, I just feel like I’m going to be doing that for a bit longer.“The landscape has changed so much, like you show up in the locker room and there are 16-year-olds like half your age and they have a new take on it, they’ve got fire and confidence.“So it’s can you re-energise and reshape your own surfing.“We’ve always got the ultimate leader in Kelly Slater is still showing up and he has had to do that over three generations of people so there is no excuses, it is possible.“I’d love to (surf competitively into my 40s). If not you get closer to Brissie (2032 Olympics) and I would just love to be part of that and helping the team. Where surfing is going it has all these avenues to still be involved. “I will just go as long as my body can hold up.” Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au