Before she enters the ocean at Maui in her bid to become the women's world surfing champion, Wright will draw her favourite number on her body.

"It's just a reminder to be me," she says. "People think it's unlucky and weird stuff but I don't believe any of that."

Wright's rival, Sally Fitzgibbons, has her own habit. Before she faces the "raw" Maui wave, she will scrunch some sand between her fingers.

"We're bouncing between different countries and beaches so much, you start to get that feeling: where am I, what am I doing?" she says.

"It just grounds me to grab a handful of sand."

These are rituals of the two women left standing between Stephanie Gilmore and her sixth world crown.

Come December 6, the final day of the 10-stop world tour, an Australian is guaranteed to have won.

The title is Gilmore's to lose after she captured the overall points lead and the No.1 ranking with a narrow win in Portugal this month.

But her compatriots remain dangerous, both driven and willing to take risks.

"This is one of the closest world title races in women's history," Fitzgibbons, the world No. 2 says.

"It's obviously great for the spectators and sometimes a little shattering as the athlete because you're working so hard to be in that spot."

The 23-year-old has previously admitted to crying after every loss. She might not take losing as hard anymore, but probably still harder than most women on the tour, she admits.

"I try not to, but I'm just so passionate about the sport and what I'm putting into it," she says. "It is a bit of a heartbreaker in surfing when you can't control all those uncontrollables. It can come down to one point."

What she can control is her preparation.

South Sydney Rabbitohs forward Ben Te'o was stunned by the intensity of her training when the pair attended a high-performance camp this year.

"We did an exercise where you take a breath, swim 25 metres underwater, come up, and then go back," Te'o told Fairfax Media last month. "I did it once. She did it eight or nine times and passed out. That's how hard she pushed herself."

Fitzgibbons had been impressed to think her fellow athlete could keep up.

"I assumed he kept going too but apparently he had a couple of sneaky breaths," she says. "I was going, 'Wow, he's insane'."

More and more, women surfers are matching the physicality of the men's tour by incorporating aerial stunts into their rides; Fitzgibbons likens the advance to breaking the four-minute mile.

"You're trying so long to make big inroads with the airs and all of a sudden a couple are landed in the heats. Next year I think there will be more and more."

Perhaps no other woman on tour takes as many calculated risks as Wright, the 20-year-old from Lennox Head .

The world No.3 has built a reputation for surfing with abandon, aiming for big airs and grabs.

But she was not always so carefree in her career.

"I started from scratch in 2013," she says.

Wright, the younger sister of pro-surfer Owen Wright, had been on the verge of quitting the sport after her prodigious early success. She did not like surfing anymore. She did not like herself.

"I thought I had to surf," she says. "I didn't think I had a choice in it. Owen was the first person to sit me down and say 'Tyler, you don't have to surf. You don't have to do this. You can do whatever you want'."

Wright took a break, started riding a motorbike, bought a puppy - minor acts of rebellion. She realised she could drop everything to study law or become a police office.

Knowing this allowed her to embrace surfing once again, as she adopted a new attitude that can come across as impossibly laid-back.

"This will probably sound bad but I felt amazing!" she told Surfing World after she slipped to second in the world title race last year. "I was like, 'This is messed up! I'm not meant to be here.' No way did I feel like I lost at all."

Wright says training with a win in mind would be "pathetic".

All expectations of doing well or badly have been abandoned "because I think they put limitations on things".

"I would much rather just run free with it. Expecting to do well also creates a sort of pressure which is unnecessary in my world. I love to go into events not knowing, adapting on the spot to whatever Mother Nature throws at me." Wright says she has not crunched the numbers on who needs to score what in Maui for her to win. As for the preparations of Gilmore and Fitzgibbons, she pays little attention. "I let them focus on them."

Jeremy Sheppard, Surfing Australia's sports science manager, says this year's competition has been "absolutely wild" among the top five.

Among the top three, he sees distinct strengths that could clinch each of them the title in Maui.

"Sally is the lightest of the three athletes, and the shortest, and quite dynamic in her approach," says Sheppard, who helps train Fitzgibbons.

"Stephanie is known for her world-class carves, with a lot of flow, and she rides forehand barrels really well. Tyler has aggressive forehand turns that show a lot of power surfing that gets rewarded well, and she isn't afraid to do airs under pressure."

He tips Fitzgibbons to win if the conditions are "scary".

"She is absolutely dedicated and wants it bad. Tyler could do anything, like in France, surf a perfect heat. Steph has forehand carves, snaps, and barrel riding that will make her a favourite if the conditions are classic."

With so much talent and drive between the three contenders, victory could hinge on something small. Like a handful of sand. Or a number written on skin.

Stephanie Gilmore

Age: 26

Born: Murwillumbah, NSW

World ranking: 1

Career milestones: World champion 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012

How she can win the world title: Gilmore will carry away the title as long as she makes the final.

Sally Fitzgibbons

Age: 23

Born: Gerroa, NSW

World ranking: 2

Career milestones: ASP world tour runner-up 2010, 2011, 2012

How she can win the world title: Come first in the final and beat a third-placed Gilmore in a surf-off, or win outright if Gilmore places fifth or below.

Tyler Wright

Age: 20

Born: Culburra, NSW

World ranking: 3

Career milestones: Finished 2013 as world No. 2

How she can win the world title: Come first in the final and beat Gilmore in a surf-off if she ranks fifth or below.