However, the 25-year-old still rates the elements as her biggest hurdle. “Non-surfers might ask, ‘Why can’t you just get that wave?’” the 2011 runner-up from Gerroa shared with Inside Sport. “There’s no button to press to be in the right spot. But that’s the beauty of it. Your ocean knowledge, you’re always learning about reading waves and reading different conditions. You just have to really adapt to your surroundings.”

After a rocky start to her 2016 campaign - a 13th at the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast back in March - Fitzgibbons recovered in good fashion to finish runner-up at the Rip Curl Women's Pro Bells Beach in round two. She has since recorded a fifth, a second, another fifth, as well as a last-start ninth at the Vans US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach, California in late July. All up Fitzgibbons has recorded 13 heat wins throughout 2016.

Fitzgibbons, who finished third in the 2015 series despite bursting an eardrum at Cloudbreak during the Fiji Pro, predicts her resilience will prove her best asset as she confronts the final few rounds of the 2016 campaign.

“At times this season I would’ve loved those quarter-finals, especially at Fiji, to be a semi or a final. At Snapper, for instance, I just really wanted to go back and do extremely well there, especially since I had that near-miss in the final against Tyler a number of years back,” the 2011 series runner-up explained.

 

“But I think the beauty of surfing - and where I am in my career – is that these results, they’re always going to burn. I guess I’ve created the right mechanisms for coping. As a younger athlete, I’d be so distressed with myself and put so much pressure on myself to win this world title, whereas now, I’ve changed my reactions to become the best surfer, the best athlete I can possibly be, and feel those results are going to eventually meet.

“I have to be resilient and punch through those tough results and just have a lot of confidence that I know I’m giving it my absolute best. I don’t intentionally paddle out to make a mistake or not get that wave, but it’s going to happen in a sport like surfing. I feel like I’ve definitely matured in that sense.

“I’m still really passionate about surfing; even eight years deep on the world tour I’m like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to go back to this stop, or try this, or change my boards. It’s about finding the different inspirations where I can.”

The next stop on the 2016 Women’s World Surf League will be the Swatch Women’s Pro at Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California between September 7-18.