Australian Julian Wilson knows how close he came to a maiden World Surf League title but plans to build on a career-best season to ensure it's "his turn" in 2019.
Red-hot Brazilian Gabriel Medina clinched his second world championship by making the final of the Pipe Masters in Hawaii on Monday.
To add insult to injury, Medina beat Wilson 18.34 to 16.70 in the decider of the season-ending event to turn the tables on the Queenslander for beating him in the 2014 Pipeline final.
Wilson, who vanquished 11-time world champion Kelly Slater in their semi-final, admitted it was a "bummer" to finish the season runner-up but was far from discouraged.
"I took care of what I could take care of. He was the better man," Wilson told AAP of Medina.
"It was a great year and to push him to the very end, the third last heat of the whole year, it was a good campaign.
"I'll just work harder on trying to flick the switch on and make it my turn."
In his eighth season on the WSL tour, the Sunshine Coast native notched event wins at the Gold Coast and France in 2018 to back up his third-place overall finish last year with another podium.
It leaves Wilson with one last spot to climb and he's confident he now has the experience to scale the mountain next season.
"That's the goal," he said.
"I learnt a lot this year. The more years that I seem to have on tour the better I get to understand what it takes for me to perform.
"It was my best year yet. I will try to grow and build on that next year and make up that one or two-heat difference at the end of day."
But first Wilson will return to Australian shores to recharge his batteries before resuming his world tour assault.
"I'm so exhausted," he said.
"The dust is settling on today and how close I was to everything."
Earlier, Australian Joel Parkinson's 17-year professional career came to an end as he was bundled out in a fourth-round heat featuring Wilson.
"Wow, it's over, I'm so glad it's over," the 2012 world champion said.
Parkinson's elimination ended his hopes of a fourth Triple Crown of Surfing, with Brazilian world tour rookie Jesse Mendes joining the illustrious list of winners.
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