Stephanie Gilmore has been one of the most dominant surfers in history. She won the first of her seven World Titles during her 2007 rookie season, becoming the first surfer on either the Men’s or Women’s side to accomplish such a feat. It would be her first of four straight she would collect during her rapid takeover of the sport.

Her aggressive approach is grounded in genius precision and technical expertise that has set a new performance benchmark for women. Today, the generation of women she's inspired is her biggest challenge … and she couldn’t be happier.

A true-blue Aussie, she grew up the youngest of three girls in Murwillumbah, on the edge of the Tweed River that separates New South Wales from Queensland. She spent her formative years battling for waves in Coolangatta’s legendary points, home to the most crowded and competitive lineups in the world.

Her charming personality did little to help to snag set waves at places like Snapper, but her incredible paddling strength and dynamite surfing could certainly part a crowd. With zero room for error in an environment like that, every aspect of Steph’s approach was refined to its most efficient and elegant form. Today, her style is listed by many as one of the best in the business.

In the latter part of her career, she’s explored her creative side, especially with her photography and guitar. She moved part-time to LA in early 2017 to plug into the music scene and recharge her batteries, and it worked. Apart from appearing on stage with Pearl Jam and Jimmy Buffet, she blasted into 2017 with her fifth Roxy Pro win and stayed in the title hunt to the very end. In 2018, after a four-year gap, she clinched her record-tying seventh World Title during the final event of the season at the Beachwaver Maui Pro.

She has now matched Layne Beachley for the most women's World Titles in history. In 2019 Gilmore remained as relevant and stylish as ever on the way to winning her 17th and 18th CT career victories in Bali and Maui. She finished as the World No. 4 and as the top-placed Australian, ensured she would lead the country’s charge when surfing made its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

She failed to win a medal at the Games and watched on as her old foe Carissa Moore won both Gold and the World Title. At the end of 2021 though Gilmore again committed herself to the CT, vowing to win the 8th World Title that would, yet again, make history.

Instagram: @stephaniegilmore