A Cornish surfer is ending the year on a high as he looks ahead to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the dream of a place on Team GB.

Newquay’s Luke Dillon is one half of Team Korev, along with Woolacombe’s Lucy Campbell. The pair, sponsored by St Austell Brewery’s Korev Cornish lager, both played a part in this year’s world championships in Tokyo, getting to grips with the break that will form the backdrop to the Olympic competition in two years’ time.

Luke and Lucy also helped steer England to the British Team title earlier in the summer.

On a personal level, 2018 was a season of real highs and lows for Luke, recovering from injury earlier in 2017 which put a dent in his aspirations to climb the ranks on the World Surfing League qualifying series.

Finding solace in home waters paid dividends for the Fistral surfer however, as he went on to pull off a thrilling top spot in the final UK Pro Surf League event of the year in wild waters off Cornwall’s north coast.

Luke said: “It felt really great to be competing around the UK again. I’ve been all over the world chasing qualifying points in the last few years, but I felt I needed a break to refocus and I’ve had an amazing year making every UK Pro Surf final.

“I didn’t get the luck in one or two of them but finishing fourth, third, second and then firstst at the Night event was a great way to finish the season and get me focused on next year.”

Falmouth Packet:

Luke Dillon is setting his sights on become English Open Champion

And 2019 looks set to be another year of globe-trotting, as Luke hopes to work his way back into the world top 100 by the end of July.

Setting out to big-scoring events in Israel, Tenerife and Indonesia from January onwards, the travelling will pay big dividends, with Luke explaining: “The World Qualifying Series is the best way I can get in touch with Tokyo 2020, as this is where I’ll meet up and compete with a lot of the guys who will be out there at the Olympics.

“Having said that, it’s been great being back on the UK Tour so I’ll definitely get in as much of that as possible.

“I’d love to finish 2019 as English Open Champion. It’s the only UK title I haven’t won though I’ve been second on two occasions. It would be amazing to pick that up and be able to say I’d won every UK title by the age of 24!”

Meanwhile Woolacombe-based Lucy Campbell’s year has been all about reinforcing her position as the UK’s number one female surfer. Crowned as both the English National Surfing Champion and British Surfing Champion, Lucy has well and truly earned the spotlight this year and should be a shoe-in if team GB gets the nod for Tokyo 2020.