2026 World Surf League
| 2026 World Surf League | |
|---|---|
| Location | Australia, El Salvador, Brazil, South Africa, French Polynesia, Fiji, United States, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Hawaii |
| Dates | April 1st 2026 - December 20th 2026 |
The 2026 World Surf League is the 49th season of all iterations of the tour circuit for professional surfers. The first round of the tour will be held at Bells Beach, Australia in April, and the tour will culminate on the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawai'i, at Pipeline for the first time since 2019.[1][2] 36 men and 24 women are set to compete in the 2026 Champtionship Tour.[3] Yago Dora and Molly Picklum are the defending champions from the 2025 season.[4][5]
The 2026 CT will include twelve events in nine countries and will be following a new format that differs from those of previous years. Under the new system, the 36 men and 24 women will compete in nine "regular-season" events, at which point the competition will be narrowed to 24 men and 16 women for the final two "postseason" events, during which competitors will be given the opportunity to accumulate more points. Surfers will carry only their best seven of nine results from the regular season into the next stage.
The nine "regular-season" events and two "postseason" events will be followed by a reimagined Pipe Masters on the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawai'i as the twelfth and final event of the tour, which will now award 15,000 points, 1.5 times more than a standard CT event.[6][7] The full 2026 men's and women's CT fields from the start of the season will rejoin the postseason competitors to compete in this final event.
The final season rankings, and ultimately the World Titles, will be determined by a surfer's best nine of 12 results.
In another major change from previous years, elimination rounds have also been removed, meaning that if an athlete loses their first round heat at a given event, they will be eliminated from that event.[8] According to WSL CEO Ryan Crosby, this change is intended to create "higher stakes from day one, with every heat carrying real consequence throughout the season."[9]
Qualifier Athletes
The first seven events of the 2026 Championship Tour will be contested by the WSL top 36 men and top 24 women. The increase from 18 female athletes in 2025 to 24 female athletes in 2026 is a reflection of the WSL's broader move towards gender parity.[10][11]
The top 14 women in the 2025 Championship Tour rankings will automatically requalify for the 2026 Championship Tour, while an additional 7 surfers will qualify through the 2025 Challenger Series. The last 3 surfers will be selected as seasonal and event wildcards.[12]
The Top 22 men in the 2025 Championship Tour rankings automatically requalify for the 2026 Championship Tour and a further 10 surfers will qualify through the 2025 Challenger Series, while the remaining 4 surfers will be selected as seasonal and event wildcards.[13]
| 2026 Championship Tour Qualifiers | |
|---|---|
| Women | Men |
| Qualifiers from the 2025 Championship Tour | |
 Molly Picklum
|
 Yago Dora
|
 Caroline Marks
|
Griffin Colapinto
|
 Gabriela Bryan
|
 Jordy Smith
|
| Caitlin Simmers
|
Ítalo Ferreira
|
| Bettylou Sakura Johnson
|
Jack Robinson
|
| Isabella Nichols
|
Ethan Ewing
|
| Tyler Wright
|
 Kanoa Igarashi
|
 Erin Brooks
|
Filipe Toledo
|
| Lakey Peterson
|
 Leonardo Fioravanti
|
| Luana Silva
|
Cole Houshmand
|
| Sawyer Lindblad
|
Barron Mamiya
|
 Vahine Fierro
|
Connor O'Leary
|
| Bella Kenworthy
|
Miguel Pupo
|
 Brisa Hennessy
|
Jake Marshall
|
| Crosby Colapinto
| |
| Marco Mignot
| |
| João Chianca
| |
| Joel Vaughan
| |
 Alan Cleland Jr.
| |
 Rio Waida
| |
| Seth Moniz
| |
| Alejo Muniz
| |
| Qualifiers from the 2025 Challenger Series | |
| Tya Zebrowski
|
Kauli Vaast
|
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC male athlete | |
| TBC male athlete | |
| TBC male athlete | |
| Season Wildcards | |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
| WSL Replacement | |
| TBC female athlete | TBC male athlete |
Schedule
Cloudbreak, Fiji will no longer be the venue for the WSL Finals, which will instead take place at Pipeline in O'ahu, Hawai'i for the return of the Pipe Masters in December 2026.[9] Cloudbreak will instead be the eighth stop on the tour.
The first three stops of the event are set to be hosted in Australia, beginning in April 2026.[14] Snapper Rocks is expected to make its return to the tour as part of the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro.[15] Though it was initially announced as the sixth stop of the 2025 CT, the event was ultimately moved to Burleigh Heads at the last minute as a result of significant cyclone-related impacts to the Snapper Rocks sandbank and beach, which made the location currently unsuitable for the CT at the time.[16][17]
| Round | Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 1-11 | Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
|
Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia |
| 2 | April 17-27 | Western Australia Margaret River Pro
|
Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia |
| 3 | May 2-12 | Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro
|
Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia |
| 4 | May 28 - June 7 |  Surf City El Salvador Pro
|
Punta Roca, La Libertad, El Salvador |
| 5 | June 12-20 | VIVO Rio Pro
|
Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| 6 | July 10-20 | JBay Open
|
Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| 7 | August 8-18 |  SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro
|
Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia |
| 8 | August 25 - September 4 |  Fiji Pro
|
Cloudbreak, Tavarua, Fiji |
| 9 | September 11-20 | Trestles Pro
|
Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California, United States |
| 10 | October 14-18 |  Surf Abu Dhabi Pro
|
Hudayriat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |
| 11 | October 22 - November 1 |  MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal
|
Supertubos, Peniche, Portugal |
| 12 | December 8-20 | Pipe Masters
|
Pipeline, O'ahu, Hawai'i |
Results and Standings
Event Results
| Round | Event | Men's Champion | Men's Runner Up | Women's Champion | Women's Runner Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
|
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| 2 | Western Australia Margaret River Pro
|
||||
| 3 | Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro
|
||||
| 4 | Surf City El Salvador Pro
|
||||
| 5 | VIVO Rio Pro
|
||||
| 6 | JBay Open
|
||||
| 7 | SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro
|
||||
| 8 | Fiji Pro
|
||||
| 9 | Trestles Pro
|
||||
| 10 | Surf Abu Dhabi Pro
|
||||
| 11 | MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal
|
||||
| 12 | Pipe Masters
|
See also
References
- ↑ "World Surf League Announces Return to Pipeline for Championship Tour Finale Starting in 2026". World Surf League. 2 May 2025.
- ↑ "Pipeline to return as WSL finale with one-day decider scrapped for 2026". The Guardian. 2 May 2025.
- ↑ "World Surf League revamps Championship Tour format, putting Pipe Masters in the spotlight". NBC Sports. 2 May 2025.
- ↑ "Molly Picklum, Yago Dora Win First World Titles in Historic Cloudbreak Surf". SURFER Magazine. 2 September 2025.
- ↑ "Molly Picklum wins first world surfing title with dominant display at WSL Finals". The Guardian. 2 September 2025.
- ↑ "World Champions Will Once Again Be Crowned At Pipeline". SURFER Magazine. 2 May 2025.
- ↑ "Pipeline back as world surf tour finale in 2026". Reuters. 2 May 2025.
- ↑ "World Surf League Announces Major Changes to World Tour Format in 2026". Hawaiian South Shore. 13 May 2025.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "World Surf League Makes Major Changes, 2026 Schedule Revealed". SURFER Magazine. 28 July 2025.
- ↑ "'Next logical step': World Surf League to expand women's elite field". The Guardian. 13 November 2024.
- ↑ "World Surf League to expand women's elite field for 2026 season". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 November 2024.
- ↑ "2025 Women's Championship Tour". World Surf League. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
- ↑ "2025 Men's Championship Tour". World Surf League. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
- ↑ "Australia to host first three events of 2026 WSL Champions Tour". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 3 May 2025.
- ↑ "Snapper Rocks Returns to WSL Championship Tour Schedule in 2025". World Surf League. 25 April 2024.
- ↑ "Gold Coast Pro To Relocate to Burleigh Heads Amid Sandbank Concerns at Snapper Rocks". World Surf League. 9 April 2025.
- ↑ "World Surf League's Gold Coast Pro Moving From Snapper Rocks to Burleigh Heads". The Inertia. 9 April 2024.
External links
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