Mateus Herdy: Qualified! Photo: Tony Heff//World Surf League
The World Surf League’s men’s and women’s Championship Tours will be flooded with rookies when the 2026 season kicks off at Bells Beach on April 1. Of the 17 surfers who qualified for the 2026 CT via the 2025-2026 Challenger Series, nine (four men, five women) are going to be a rookie this year.
“We’re happy to officially confirm the full field of Championship Tour competitors for the 2026 season,” said WSL VP of Tours and Competition Renato Hickel. “This season holds so much excitement with a new crop of surfers joining a returning group of surfing’s biggest stars. All of this, with an expanded women’s field and a world title showdown set for Pipeline at season’s end, it’s set to be an incredible year on the WSL Championship Tour….We look forward to crowning WSL World Champions for the 50th year in 2026.”
Yeah, things have certainly fallen into place for the League this year (at least, thus far).
On the women’s side, Zebrowski, Yolanda Hopkins, Sally Fitzgibbons, Alyssa Spencer, Francisca Veselko, Nadia Erostarbe, and Anat Lelior finished top seven on the Challenger Series, thus earning qualification for the ’26 CT. Of that group, Zebrowski, Hopkins, Veselko, Erostrabe, and Lelior are all going to be competing full-time…for the first time.
The men’s Challenger Series, meanwhile, is sending the top 10 qualifiers from the 2025-2026 CS to the big show. Kauli Vaast, Eli Hanneman, Morgan Cibilic, George Pittar, Samuel Pupo, Callum Robson, Luke Thompson, Oscar Berry, Mateus Herdy, and Liam O’Brien. Vaast, Thompson, Berry, and Herdy are all rookies this season – which could prove to be an interesting one indeed.
