Sally Fitzgibbons believes the big-wave conditions in Hawaii will play to her strengths when she battles for a long-sought world surfing title next month.
Fitzgibbons, 26, is at the top of the standings heading into the final event at Maui's Honolua Bay and says it will be an opportunity to show the results of hard work put into developing her rail technique this year.
"A wave like Honolua plays into my strengths and I feel I have the menu and variety in my surfing now to match it with any of my competitors," said Fitzgibbons, a world championship runner-up 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The NSW south coast surfer was close to victory in Maui's raw and powerful surf in 2015, when she came second to American Carissa Moore.
In 2014 she reached the quarter-finals of the Hawaii event but last year she was eliminated in the second round.
Fitzgibbons said in the month remaining she will be focusing on bringing out the "personality" in her surfing - "that attacking and fun brand of surfing that I want to display on the big Honolua wall".
Defending world champion and fellow Australian Tyler Wright is in second place on the standings, and either could claim the world title with a win in Maui, regardless of how their competitors fare.
Wright was the winner at Maui last year, came runner-up in 2014 and made it to round four there in 2015.
American Courtney Conlogue is in the best position to displace Fitzgibbons or Wright, while Australian six-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore would need some significant results for a title play.
Fitzgibbons said it be an "almighty milestone" to claim the world title.
However it wouldn't be a finish line for the star, who has also recently produced two books, released a fitness app and continued encouraging children to live healthily through her Sally Fitzgibbons Foundation.
"I want to continue to learn and evolve my surfing and approach to riding waves no matter what," she said.
"Just to be in the mix with the best women in the world is rewarding in itself."
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