‘I’m frothing’: George Pittar breaks eight-year surfing duck at Margaret River Pro

The last time George Pittar competed at the Margaret River Pro, a mainstay stop of the World Surf League, it was a very different story. The Manly-born, Vanuatu-raised surfer arrived in Western Australia in May last year needing a run of wins in the heavy conditions to avoid the championship tour’s dreaded mid-season “cut”. But a round of 32 loss to Brazil’s Miguel Pupo meant that Pittar’s time at surfing’s top table was over halfway through his rookie campaign.

Having trudged up the Margaret River main break steps, a deflated Pittar found a quiet spot in the corner of the athletes’ area. Sitting on a railing amid drying wetsuits, a towel covering his head and face in his hands, Pittar did not move for 15 minutes – disconsolate, a dream over before it really began.

On Sunday, before contesting the final of this year’s event, the 23-year-old returned to the same spot. “Just before that final, I went and sat just where I sat last year when I fell off tour,” he said after beating Gabriel Medina to win the event. “I was like: ‘It’s kinda crazy how different the feelings are.’”

After falling off tour, Pittar climbed a mountain to return – finishing fourth in the second-tier Challenger Series, a gruelling slog of far-flung waves and hardened competitors. Following a strong start to the season at Bells Beach earlier this month, Pittar arrived in the West to ascend another mountain.

The Australian opened his event against two-time world champion Felipe Toledo. The Brazilian had the better of the opening exchanges, before Pittar nailed an eight-point ride to win the heat. After seeing off Italy’s Leo Fioravanti in the next round, another Brazilian was waiting in the quarter-finals on Saturday: reigning world champion Yago Dora.

Pittar struggled for much of the 35 minute heat, failing to piece together a score to rival Dora. But with five seconds on the clock, the Australian paddled into a right-hand wall and produced three big hacks to find the points he needed – winning by a mere 0.07.

On Sunday, it was another heat and another Brazilian ex-world champion – Pittar saw off Ítalo Ferreira in the semi-final, finding the better opportunities in a close encounter. And then, another heat, another Brazilian world champion: three-time WSL winner Medina, a former Margaret River Pro victor, stood between Pittar and his maiden championship tour event victory.

“Seven world titles – eight if you count the coach [Medina’s coach, former Brazilian world champion Adriano de Souza],” noted beachside interviewer Vaughan Blakey on the broadcast. Pittar, in just his 11th WSL event, had beaten them all; a wave scored at nine points, the highest of the competition, clinching the final with an exclamation point.

It was, Pittar remarked afterwards, the first event he had won since a junior “grom” competition when he was only 15. After a childhood surfing perfect, empty waves in Vanuatu – Pittar is fluent in the local language, Bislama, and has a cult following among Ni-Vanuatu surf fans – the transition to competitive surfing was not necessarily an easy one. The youngster was never hyped as a surf prodigy or won junior world titles. But with his smooth, flowing style and powerful turns, Pittar increasingly looks at home among the world’s best.

Coming after such a difficult 2025 season, Pittar’s first competition win in almost a decade felt even sweeter. “We had such a hard year last year, falling off tour,” Pittar said afterwards. “It was hard, man. It felt like we were just pushing shit uphill.”

Following those lows, Pittar has returned to the tour with newfound confidence. After winning his semi-final on Sunday morning, Pittar’s compatriots went searching for an Australian flag – such was their confidence that the underdog would triumph against Medina. It was the same confidence he channelled to victory.

“I had to [have that confidence],” said Pittar, draped in the flag. “I can’t think I’m just another number making up the rankings any more. I want to be on here, I want to be a competitor, I want to be at the top. I just feel – even if it’s fake confidence, fucking believe it. I’m frothing.”

At the competition venue earlier this week, a site of such mixed emotions for Pittar, Empire of the Sun song Walking on a Dream played over the speaker system. The tune resonated with the Australian. “That’s what it has felt like this week, honestly,” he said.

The Australian now heads to the next event of the year, on the Gold Coast starting on Friday, as the second-best surfer in the world rankings. With his versatility across big faces and big barrels, this is unlikely to be the last world surfing hears from George Pittar. What a difference a year makes. “I can’t believe I just did it,” he said. “Fucking oath, I won a CT [championship tour event].”