Santa Barbara professional surfer Lakey Peterson is off to a hot start on the World Surf League Championship Tour.
Peterson won the WSL’s Margaret River Pro in Australia on Saturday and moved into a share of first place on the tour standings after two stops.
The victory was her first since 2023 and the seventh in her career on championship tour.
Peterson defeated Brazil’s Luana Silva in a dramatic final. Silva scored a 6.83 (the highest single-wave score of the heat) to take the lead with about five minutes left. Needing a 6.01 to win, Peterson took off on her final wave with around three minutes to go and received a 6.40.
“I can’t believe it, really. It just kind of happened this week, it all fell into place,” Peterson told the WSL. “When the ocean’s working with you, it’s a nice thing.
“I work really hard, we all do, it’s just nice when it pays off. I’ve been doing this a really long time, and it’s cool to prove to myself, like, ‘I can still do this. I can still win these events.’”
With the surfers still in the water when the final score was announced, Peterson raised her arms in triumph and fell backwards into the water. Her last win came at the Corona Open J-Bay in Australian in July of 2023.
In her road to the Margaret River Pro final, Peterson eliminated Canadian competitor Erin Brooks and San Clemente residents Caroline Marks and Sawyer Lindblad.
The final was contested on the last day of the 11-day window. The conditions were clean, three-to-four foot waves, after a week of stormy, onshore conditions.
Peterson, 31, placed fifth in the championship tour’s first event, the Rip Curl Pro in Bells Beach, Australia. She is tied with Hawai’i’s Gabriela Bryan in the standings with 14,745 points.
Peterson has been competing on the championship tour since 2012.
