FORMER Portlander Liam O’Brien has broken through for the biggest result of his professional surfing career with a fifth placing at the famous Billabong Pro Pipeline event in Hawaii.

O’Brien spent his early years in Portland – attending Portland South Primary School – before the family moved to the Gold Coast.

When O’Brien visited Portland in late 2021 he was preparing to tackle the World Surf League 2022 Pipeline event, however he suffered a broken leg after a nasty wipeout the day before the competition started.

That injury forced him out of the entire 2022 Men’s Championship Tour season.

After recovering from the injury he was able to surf several competitions in the Men’s Challenger Series (one level down from the Championship Tour), where he was able to post three top 10 results, including a third placing in the EDP Vissla Pro Ericeira in Portugal in October – earning himself enough points to qualify for the top level again in 2023.

O’Brien returned to Pipeline this week where he produced a series of great results.

In his opening round heat O’Brien scored the best wave of the three surfers and finished second behind fellow Australian and top-five ranked Ethan Ewing (the top two waves from each surfer are counted).

He faced Ewing again in the one-on-one round of 32, winning narrowly with a score of 10.17, which included a 6.67 best wave.

O’Brien then comfortably outsurfed Hawaii local Seth Moniz 7.53 points to 3.90 points in the round of 16.

Eventually O’Brien’s run came to an in the quarter-final, beaten by Brazil’s Caio Ibelli, who is ranked eight in the world, 15.83 points to 7.70 points.

The Pipeline event was due to wrap up yesterday.