8x World Champ Stephanie Gilmore Inks Multi-Million Dollar Deal With Rip Curl
In the biggest sponsorship news of 2024 thus far, eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore and Rip Curl have just announced an eight-year, multi-million dollar deal. Starting her career with Rip Curl back in 2000, in recent years she’s been representing women’s surf wear brand Roxy. At the start of the year, Gilmore announced that she would be taking a break from the 2024 WSL Championship Tour.
“This really feels like a new era in my career,” Gilmore said in a press statement released by Rip Curl. “In taking a year-off my aim was to just go surfing. To reconnect with what surfing really means to me and how I can share that with the world.”
“When this opportunity came up to join The Search with Rip Curl, traveling the world, finding waves, having fun, it was the perfect alignment,” Gilmore continued.
Rip Curl call the new deal “a new standard for sponsorships in the surfing world.”
The news of Gilmore comes on the heals of Rip Curl parting ways with long-time team rider Bethany Hamilton, while at the same time extending their relationships with Australia’s Molly Picklum, Canada’s Erin Brooks, and Americans Alyssa Spencer and Crosby Colapinto. Picklum is considered a strong contender for the 2024 world title, while Spencer and Colapinto are rookies on the Championship Tour. Brooks has already garnered a lot of attention as a future great and has already started posting strong competitive results.
As far as what’s next for Gilmore, it’s unclear at this point, but could a dream surf trip with fellow Rip Curl surfers Mick Fanning, Tom Curren and Mason Ho be that far away?
“I love competing, and plan to return to the tour in 2025. After 17 years of putting on a competition jersey, it’s a big change in my schedule, but one I’m fully embracing and beyond excited about,” surmised Gilmore.
