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Canadian shines at 2026 World Surf League stop as American Colapinto reaches men’s final.
Canadian Erin Brooks wrapped up her first World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) member victory on Thursday at the Tahiti Pro stop after edging a comeback thriller against Israeli Anat Lelior as American Griffin Colapinto battled through to finish second in the men’s event. Here is all you need to know:
– Clean, four-to-six-foot, hollow barrels greeted competitors to Finals Day, setting the stage for an incredible day of action after both Brooks and Colapinto had dug deep to progress throughout the event on the back of some classy surfing.
– Brooks started out her challenge with a tense win over France’s Tya Zebrowski before she held her nerve against five-time world champion Carissa Moore to post two decent scores in a 11.83 to 8.90 victory.
– The quarter-finals were an altogether easier affair against 2025 world champion Molly Picklum, the Australian struggling to find a decent wave as Brooks reeled off scores 7.67 and 5.83 to advance.
– The semi-finals saw Brooks step up a gear to catch a brilliant wave of 9 that she followed up with a 6.10 to defeat Australian Isabella Nichols and secure a place in the final against Lelior, who advanced on the other side of the draw where Americans Caitlin Simmers and Caroline Marks stumbled.
– The all-goofy-footed final saw Brooks and Lelior trade clean barrels to open with Brooks riding a slightly deeper tube next up – adding a 6.03 to her scoreline – before Lelior improved her backup to a second excellent ride of an 8.00 that put Brooks into a heavy combination at the halfway point.
– Finally locking into the wave she was hoping for at 17 minutes, Brooks delayed a stylish bottom-turn into a throaty barrel to answer back with an 8.27 and followed up with a 8.93 soon after leaving Lelior in need of an 8.88 – which she was unable to find as Brooks earned her first CT full member win.
– The 19-year-old, who moves up seven places to 11th overall, said: “I’m just so thankful to God for sending me my waves, because I honestly thought I was out. In a combo really early, I knew I had time, but it’s super hard to get good waves and it made me nervous. I haven’t had a win in so long, so it feels really good because I was almost doubting myself. The season has been really hard.”
– In the men’s event, Italian Leonardo Fioravanti and Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi could not make it out of the second round, Frenchman Kauli Vaast and Brazil’s João Vitor Chianca falling next round up.
– The quarter-finals saw Brazilian Ítalo Ferreira put on a show for the crowd on the beach with a 15.50 to 11.94 victory over Australian Ethan Ewing as Colapinto needed every trick in his book to edge out Australian Jack Robinson 11.83 to 11.50 in the last eight on the other side of the draw.
– 2019 world champion Ferreira’s run came to an end in the semi-finals after losing out to Hawaiian Seth Moniz 15.76 to 13.83 as Colapinto easily got past Moroccan Ramzi Boukhiam to reach the final.
– A long wait for the opening wave of the Final saw Colapinto attack first to bank a score of 7.67 with Moniz pulling off a spectacular 9.07 at the fifth time of asking to put the pressure on.
– Colapinto needed a near-perfect 9.90 to close it out, but he could only manage a 7 as Moniz’s 9.07 saw him finish in style – the American moving up four places to eighth overall in the 2026 rankings despite the loss.
– After his best result of the season, the 28-year-old Colapinto said: “It’s crazy the way that all panned out to have Seth and I in the Final together, that’s a dream come true. Seth and I have been best friends since we were 10 and always dreaming of being in this position.”
– There is one week of rest now before the world’s best surfers tackle the Fiji Pro at the iconic Cloudbreak.
