Paddleboarder who saved Aussie mum Leah Stewart after shark mauling achieves another remarkable feat

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 15:54, 27 July 2026 | Updated: 15:56, 27 July 2026 A volunteer lifeguard who helped rescue a woman from a shark attack has won the world paddleboarding championship. Charlie Verco, 25, won the 27th Moloka'i 2 O'ahu Paddleboard World Championships in Hawaii on Sunday amid hurricane conditions. The Aussie beat almost 100 participants paddleboarding a 52-kilometre stretch of rough seas from Moloka'i to O'ahu, in the central Pacific. The course includes a trip across the Kaiwi Channel, nicknamed the 'Channel of Bones'.  It's an infamous stretch of water known for unpredictable currents and dangerous marine life, including sharks. Organisers described the event as 'widely regarded as the sport's ultimate open-ocean endurance challenge'. Mr Verco's victory on Sunday was his fourth time winning the event. This time he broke a world record, completing the course in four hours, 18 minutes and three seconds.  The attack on Ms Stewart (above) prompted an expanded shark monitoring program Charlie Verco (above) won the 27th Moloka'i 2 O'ahu Paddleboard World Championships on Sunday, his fourth win of the event 'I'm so stoked, it's so incredible. I've never felt so good in body and mind after the race and it's extra special that I was able to set a record at the same time,' he said after the race, the ABC reported. Mr Verco trains up to three times a day, six days a week, on Sydney's northern beaches. It was during one of those training sessions at Coogee Beach on June 13 when he spotted shark attack survivor Leah Stewart, 34, about 100m from paddleboard. 'It has definitely helped remind me that the ocean is something you have to respect,' Mr Verco said of the attack on Sunday. 'I'm hoping Leah is doing alright and I feel incredibly grateful that I get to have an experience like this in the ocean.' Ms Stewart was swimming about 30m from shore when she was mauled by a great white shark, with Mr Verco paddling towards the shark before helping the mother out of the water.  Ms Stewart spent more than a week on life support, endured multiple surgeries and had her arm amputated before she was woken up from her coma.  A fundraiser for her and her family has raised more than $550,000. Mr Verco had been training on his paddleboard when he saw Ms Stewart struggling in the water (pictured are emergency services at the scene) Mr Verco recalled the attack on the Straight Talk podcast with Mark Bouris in late June. He said it was not clear immediately before the attack that a shark was in the water.  'I actually found out that she (Ms Stewart) felt the shark before she saw it and said it felt like a wetsuit material and she thought it was a dolphin, looked around and saw that it was a shark and that was when she started screaming,' he said. Despite paddling towards danger, Mr Verco thought his large paddleboard 'would probably frighten the shark and scare it off'. But those thoughts changed when he saw the size of the great white. 'I was paddling over with that kind of intention, still pretty scared, still pretty hesitant,' he said. 'I eventually saw the shark come out of the water. I saw the dorsal fin, saw the back, saw the tail, and I saw the size of it… this thing's a pretty solid animal. 'It felt like I was looking up at the animal whilst being on top of a board and just went, 'This thing is not going to be scared of me'.  Mr Verco (above) on Sunday said the shark attacked reminded him 'that the ocean is something you have to respect' 'And then my entire attitude on the situation changed.' Mr Verco said the shark was moving inquisitively and slowly with what he described as 'cautious movements'. 'And in my experience with sharks, I just thought that would mean that it would figure out that they (swimmers) weren't seals and they weren't food and just swim off and leave them alone,' he said. 'It got a lot more violent. Whether it was pushing, whether it was getting dragged around, obviously she was definitely getting bitten. 'And that was when the water started to get a bit dirty with blood. There was lots of screaming. 'Once the water got quite bloody, she actually got taken under and I couldn't see her anymore and I just went, 'Well, now there's definitely nothing I can do'.' Suddenly Ms Stewart rose to the surface after the shark let her go. 'That was when I paddled over closer to her and she was lucid enough to respond to instructions and say, 'Help me' and that kind of thing,' Mr Verco said. He pulled her onto his paddleboard where she passed out as he made his way back to shore. Mr Verco said he did his best to comfort her with words like, 'We're almost ashore' and 'You're doing really well' to take her mind off the severity of her injuries. On the shore, lifeguards applied tourniquets and began CPR, before Ms Stewart regained consciousness.  She was given multiple blood transfusions on the beach before being airlifted to St Vincent's Hospital.