Sally Fitzgibbons in major announcement amid surfing controversy

Sally Fitzgibbons has been handed a massive lifeline after falling victim to the World Surfing League's controversial new mid-season cut.

Surfing fans were left gutted for Fitzgibbons after she failed to make the cut for the second half of the Championship Tour and was relegated to the Challenger Series.

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Under the much-maligned new system, only the top 10-ranked women advanced in the top tier Championship Tour, with the rest of the field forced to qualify again for the 2023 season through the Challenger Series.

A three-time runner-up in the overall world title race, Fitzgibbons was ranked 15th after being eliminated in the round of 16 at the Margaret River Pro and was subsequently cut.

However things took a dramatic turn for Fitzgibbons on Tuesday when she was announced as a wildcard recipient for the 2023 Championship Tour.

The WSL announced two wildcards on Tuesday, with American Caroline Marks earning one to compete in all tour events for the remainder of the 2022 season and the first half of 2023.

Marks is currently ranked 19th but the 20-year-old only competed in the Billabong Pro Pipeline in February, where she was an early elimination before taking personal leave.

On the other hand, Fitzgibbons was granted the 2023 season wildcard, which means she will surf the first half of the next CT season and will be the first replacement for the rest of this year.

Fitzgibbons is currently surfing at the Gold Coast Pro - the first event on the second-tier challenger tour.

On the men's tour, three-time world champion Gabriel Medina was awarded the 2022 wildcard, while fellow Brazilian Yago Dora is a surprise selection for 2023.

Fans were left overjoyed for Fitzgibbons.

Surfing's new mid-season cut under fire

The controversial new format hasn't exactly gone down well with surfers and fans.

Brazilian young gun Joao Chianca was reduced to tears after being eliminated at Margaret River, while Aussie Olympic hero Owen Wright was also left devastated.

American star Kolohe Andino said there wasn't a lot of love for the new system.

"It's just kind of hard the whole cut thing. No one really likes it," he said at Margaret River.

"We're all friends on tour and we all love each other, so you don't want to knock the guy off tour.

"It just seems like it's a TV show a little bit, like drama all the time.

"Watching the women's the other day it was just heartbreaking with the girls that were losing. They were crying all day."

However Fitzgibbons was diplomatic, vowing to fight her way back.

"I feel like at this point in my career, maybe it is a blessing," she told AAP last week.

"Sometimes if it is a little later in your career, like in your late 30s maybe, it just feels like maybe an impossible mission sometimes just to get the energy to take on the next generation, but I feel like at this sort of point in my career I still have a lot of energy around my competing.

"I can see avenues to really keep developing my surfing and it's coming along. I just feel like I haven't really met that opportunity in a heat, especially this year.

"That's why we keep turning up because it is another opportunity to try and get to those capabilities in a heat."

with AAP

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