Nurthen wins dream oceanwoman world title

Sunday, 2 December 2018:

Currumbin ironwoman Karlee Nurthen will return home to the Gold Coast a dual world champion after an emotional victory in the world oceanwoman final in Adelaide.

The 22-year-old served up the best main course of her career on Sunday when she mastered the choppy conditions that blew up at Glenelg Beach the night before.

In the oceanman final, five-time Coolangatta Gold champion Ali Day overcame some anxious moments to claim his first world title, beating Newport rookie Jackson Borg and an unlucky Ben Carberry from Currumbin.

After several competitors became tangled in a traffic jam around the apex turning buoy, Day thought he might have made a mistake but he kept paddling to take control of the race.

"I was lucky enough to stay in the flow and I came out the other side of it after so many little challenges throughout the race," the 26-year-old said.

"I've trained a long time for this and to win my first world title it's amazing."

Nurthen started her dream day by winning the race to the line in a tightly contested women's board final.

Within 30 minutes she was crossing the line again, this time in tears as she realised her greatest day in the sport had come to fruition.

Nurthen started the oceanwoman final with the board leg and came in second only to see 16-year-old sensation and Saturday's open surf racer winner Lani Pallister (Alexandra Headland) swim around the entire field to open up a commanding lead in her first major ironwoman race.

But Nurthen bodysurfed her way down two small waves, passing the rookie Pallister to hit the beach first.

Then her surf ski skills saw Nurthen master the paddle out to sea as the remainder of the field played catch-up.

"(The oceanwoman) means so much me ... over the last few years I haven't got what I wanted from all the training I've done," Nurthen said.

"The training under coach Michel King has been so intense and to have it all come together race after race today, it was just incredible.

"I've dreamt about this day for so long and for it to come true, it's just insane."






AAP






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