It's been a good couple of months for Matt Wilkinson. With one of the tightest World Title races in years taking shape the Australian has clawed his way back to the top of the Jeep Leaderboard thanks to his impassioned win in Fiji. That performance, it should be noted, came just weeks after he'd escaped to the Maldives with Owen Wright for some fine tuning. That trip earned him a nice cover shot and feature in Surfing World Magazine that you can check out here.
Wilko and the Wrights have been traveling together since they were little kids. "When we were really young, both of our dads had buses so we'd always end up parked next to each other and camping," Wilko told Surfing World. "Once we started doing the ‘QS we travelled to most events together. He brought his dad to a lot of them so it would usually be me, Owen and his dad, and then once his sister started the ‘QS that became our little crew."
The fine tuning worked for Wilko. While his backhand surfing is what led him to the top of the Jeep Leaderboard in 2016, he's been putting a lot of focus on his frontside of late, and his Fiji performance was proof positive that it's working. See for yourself.
See Wilko compete at the Corona Open J-Bay starting July 12 here at WorldSurfLeague.com