That's because Gilmore, 22, has won the world title in all three of her seasons on the ASP Women's World Tour. She has won three of four competitions this year, and on Monday she posted the highest heat score of the Peru competition (16.50) in dispatching Julia de la Rosa in the third round."It only gets harder from here, but I'm feeling much more confident today," she said after her third-round triumph in two- to three-foot surf at San Bartolo.
Barring injury or a complete collapse, the Australian power surfer will claim a fourth consecutive world title and become the fifth athlete -- male or female -- in the history of the ASP to win four consecutive titles.
Mark Richards won four straight from 1979-82. Kelly Slater, who has nine titles and is gunning for a 10th, bagged five in a row from 1994-98.
With Slater being 38 and in the twilight of his career, however, at least some parity has arrived in the upper echelon of the men's elite circuit.
Not so on the women's side. Gilmore, a natural-footer whose style most closely matches that of her male counterparts, will be favored going into next season, too.
She'll eventually join some elite company. Fellow Aussie Layne Beachley ran off six consecutive titles from 1998-2003, and has seven overall. Gilmore this year should catch Lisa Andersen, who won four straight titles from 1994-97.
Gilmore might eventually match Slater with nine overall titles, which is something no other male surfer is likely to accomplish because the talent pool has become so incredibly deep.
It'll be interesting to see how much time passes before Gilmore becomes less dominant after a stellar crop of new-age surfers -- perhaps most notably Carissa Moore -- comes of age and infiltrates the tour's ranks.
While these dynastic athletes are fun to follow, the down side for the sport is that title races often are decided before the season-ending competitions in Hawaii, the birthplace of surfing, making those competitions somewhat anticlimactic.
Gilmore is a cinch to earn her fourth title before the two-contest Hawaiian swing, and though the men's race is tighter, Slater, who is atop the rankings, could go on a tear and claim a 10th title in Portugal and Peru, before the finale at fabled Banzai Pipeline.
If that happens, expect Slater to retire, leaving the tour as a battle ground for mere mortals.
Photo: Stephanie Gilmore in action during the third round of the Movistar Peru Classic presented by IPD. Credit: ASP / MORRIS
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