'Excited to feel that energy again': Steph Gilmore returns to pro surfing as new world title format locked in

Stephanie Gilmore, the most successful female surfer in history, has announced her return to competition for 2026 after a two year hiatus

She will return to the World Championship Tour at age 38 in pursuit of a record ninth world title, after being handed a season wildcard.

The WSL's overhauled tour was a significant lure in Gilmore's return to competition, with her comeback debut starting in Bells Beach in early April.

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"I'm mostly excited just to see how I go in these challenges again," Gilmore said to Nine's Today.

"I feel like when you step away from competing full time, you can really switch off and it can be hard to get back into those emotions, but I'm excited to feel that energy and that challenge again."

The World Championship Tour comeback will begin on home soil in Australia, starting at Bells Beach before events at WA's Margaret River and Gilmore's home break, Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast.

"From everything I've watched in these last couple of years, the women have just excelled and really progressed at such an incredible rate," she said to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"So I'm excited to get back there and test myself against them."

She returns to a very different tour from when she stepped back in 2024 and 2026 marks the 50th year of pro surfing's world championships.

Ending her longer-than-anticipated sabbatical, she'll jump into the surf and compete with rivals half her age including Australia's Molly Picklum and Canada's 18-year-old prodigy Erin Brooks.

Gilmore won four consecutive world titles from 2007 - 2010, before adding victories in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2022.