Defending Quiky Pro champ has eyes fixed on world title

OLYMPIC gold medal or world title?

For Queenslander Julian Wilson, the world’s No.2ranked surfer as his sport prepares for an Olympic Games debut in 2020, it’s no contest.

“World title,” Wilson said without hesitation when asked the hypothetical yesterday on the eve of the WSL championship tour season-opener on the Gold Coast.

“Winning a world title’s been my dream ever since I was a little boy.

“The Olympics obviously became a reality (for surfing) in the last two years but I’m definitely chasing that world title.”

The WSL’s top 10 ranked men and top eight women in 2019 will qualify for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Wilson would have a shot at Games glory if he can finally claim the world title that has eluded him in 12 years on tour.

However Wilson, who fell agonisingly short of toppling Brazil’s Gabriel Medina for last year’s world crown, said the championship trophy was surfing’s ultimate prize.

“I would love to qualify for the Olympics, definitely, but my focus is what’s in front of me and that’s the world tour,’’ the Sunshine Coast product said.

“If I can do well in that, it takes care of the other.”

Wilson, who won last year’s Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast to take an early championship lead, said he was fired up by his disappointing end to 2018 and is determined to become the first Aussie men’s world champion since Mick Fanning six years ago.

“We’ve got to step up and hopefully make Australia proud,” he said.

“(A 2018 runner-up finish) has given me belief that I can be there right until the end. There were only a few heats in it, the closest I’ve ever been.

“It’s nice to have my body feeling fit and ready to go – it’s really exciting for me.”

The big worry for Wilson, his fellow competitors and organisers is the sorry state of the famous Snapper Rocks sandbank after it was smashed by Cyclone Oma in February.

Sand-pumping from the Tweed River has failed to fill a gaping hole gouged out by Oma, which Wilson admitted had Snapper looking like ‘‘a lake’’, despite a rise in swell.

In contrast, neighbouring Duranbah was pumping, and organisers – although reluctant to make the move – may be forced to bite the bullet in order to get better waves.