Special coverage presented by Surf City - El Salvador Travel 

Rachael Tilly claimed her second world title almost 10 years after her first. That special first went down in the history books because she became the youngest WSL player to do so at 17 years and 8 months.

Tilly was perhaps overwhelmed by that title, or too comforted by having achieved it, and spent the rest of the years content with being a top 3 or a top 5; she herself tells this in this interview.

But this year everything changed. She decided not to be a mere supporter anymore and to try to achieve the second championship. She says that she believed it was more possible after winning in Huntington Beach and when she knew that the finals were in El Salvador, where she comes from finishing second in the ISA and spending a lot of time. Working as a commentator in the previous ISA, in the juniors and in the World Surfing Games and surfing a lot here.

Her faith tripled and she looked super consistent in free surfing. Below in Spanish and above in English the video interview with the new world champion.

A young Rachael Tilly won this same title at the age of 17 almost 10 years ago, what differences and similarities are there in your heart between this one and that one?
I'm sure I have similar feelings about the first one, that thing about feeling like I can't believe it happened.

It's definitely not the same Rachael, very different, I've grown up, I was 17 and now I'm 26… When I was 17 it felt like everything happened to me, and it was all fast and early in my career.

And in these nine years all these talented young women have come and had so much success and surfed beautifully and I was like, “OK, maybe I’ve had my moment.” I had to keep believing and I think I became a better surfer than I was.

So yeah, this was a very different journey to get to the world title compared to the first one. And it's a journey I'm very proud of; proud of the surfing I'm doing and my ability to be present and enjoy it.

Was there something that told you that maybe it would never happen again?
Yeah, I went through a few years where I was telling myself I was going to compete and in my mind I was going to be able to place in the top 5 and there I was, somewhere between 3 and 5.

But you need to believe and work hard… But mainly believe in yourself to get to first place.

So in those years I was showing up and I was happy with a third or a fifth.

And this year that changed. I'm not satisfied with anything less than a one; that's the mindset that changed this time.

When did the change occur?
What really happened? At the US Open. On the final day I felt like I was surfing really well, I was surrounded by my family and I had this feeling inside me to keep fighting and that ended up being a win and that changed my mind about everything… “I can still win. OK,” I told myself.

And coming here as a second-stringer, to compete against all these women, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I love El Sunzal, I love this wave, I surfed it a lot. My father told me many times to press the button of believing it... Believe in yourself and tell yourself that I know this wave and believe that I can do it and here we are (laughs).

It's nice to join the club of multiple world champions. What are you going to do now?
I haven't thought too far ahead, I'll keep competing, I'm not retiring or anything like that.

Someone told me the night I won my first one that “there’s a big difference between zero world titles and one and now you’ve done it, you’ve reached that number” and I was happy with that.

But then I looked at what my tour mates were doing and the ones I respect the most, like Soleil and Honolua, and I told myself that I want to join them, so now having two is a good feeling, an incredible feeling (laughs).

You won your first title on a left point and now on a right point, it's an interesting quality of your surfing, don't you think?
I literally didn't think about that until 20 minutes ago. It's kind of interesting, I'm proud of it and I think credit goes to San Onofre who has the best lefts and rights; I love San Onofre, they've done a great job training me on the waves that I eventually ended up winning.

How important was it to go play golf with us to win the title?
The only reason I won the title was because we went golfing (he jokes), sure, sure! I was able to hit golf balls, get the nerves out of my system, and have a great time.

And there were two things that I repeated here regarding my first world title: One is that before my final series I ate a banana and before my final in China I ate a banana; so this time I told myself to do the same.

And the second one, in China, was the first time I went out to have fun. The event was over and I went out to explore and have fun and I realized that I have better performances when I'm having fun and having a good time. So that was super fun on this trip and everything was set up so that things went well starting with our golf day, so thank you for that.

Who do you dedicate this trophy to?
My family. My brother Michael, my mother and father. They have been with me throughout my career and have believed in me the whole time so without them this would not have been possible.