Mitch Coleborn, winner of the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime, is now sitting at No. 14 on the ASP World Ranking and will compete at the upcoming Volcom Fiji Pro as a wildcard.
SYDNEY, New South Wales/Australia (Tuesday, May 28, 2013) – Mitch Coleborn (AUS), 26, is gearing up to compete at the second annual Volcom Fiji Pro, where the Australian goofy-footer dismantled several ASP WCT surfers in an incredible wildcard performance last year. With Coleborn taking out a massive win over the weekend at the Quiksilver Saquarema Prime, the talent will be carrying some serious momentum in to this year’s event at Cloudbreak and Restaurants. Australia’s Surfing Life Magazine caught up with Mitch to reflect on his win in Saquarema and get his thoughts on Fiji. This… is their story…
You’re winning the Qualifying Series. Or the World Rankings? Whatever it is now… Yeah, crazy huh?
There are less events this year, so what does it all mean for qualifying? I think I like it. The QS, no matter what people say, is a grind, it’s a hard slog. When I saw that they’d cancelled the Europe leg and all that, I was like, “Shit, that’s perfect. Less events, more points, here we go!” All of a sudden the job that had to be done seemed a lot clearer to me. I didn’t have to screw around going to Europe for six weeks chasing points, I could pick and choose my schedule. Go somewhere for a week then come home and train hard and surf and do whatever, and reset for the next one. As soon as I figured that out I got way more amped for a year than I’ve ever been before.
Is a win worth more like this? Well this one definitely is, because I’m the first non-CTer to win this year (Dusty Payne took out the only other Prime event this year at Margaret River). As long as I get a good result, the only other guys you want to see around you are the Top 34. They can swallow up all the other points, no worries.
When we profiled you last year (for Surfing Life 289), talking competitively you said you “can’t live off the junior series forever”. Is this the best thing you’ve done in a jersey since then? Yeah, for sure. It’s definitely my biggest win. In my quarter final against Dion Atkinson I caught a wave that I knew was a really good score, and this feeling came over me, I got the tingles and gave it a little fist pump… I haven’t had that since beating Kelly (Slater) last year in Fiji. It’s definitely my best result in a long time, but it’s also the same winning feeling I got last year at Cloudbreak.
Is it a bit weird going to Fiji as a wildcard, competing against the tour guys knowing it’s not worth much beyond putting your name out there and getting some epic waves to yourself? I’m not bummed at all, going “Ah, I wish I was getting the points” or anything. It’s another experience, another trip to Fiji and more practice against the big dogs. The tour is such a heavy learning curve that the more time you put in around it the better. Hopefully next year I WILL be there as part of the tour, and then this is just more preparation for that.
Did being in the event last year just make you really hungry to be a part of the tour full time? Yeah, for sure. It made me realise just how good those guys have it. The waves were incredible, the location, the way the events are run, the prize money. I just couldn’t see a single thing wrong with the World Tour, and it’s been a huge motivation to become a part of it ever since.
