Kanoa Igarashi during the 2026 New Zealand Pro. Photo: Rambo Estrada//WSL
Kanoa Igarashi appears to be having a tough go on tour this year. He started the year off with an appearance in the quarterfinals but has yet to make it past round three this season, including a one-and-done appearance in which he lost to Liam O’Brien in the Gold Coast Pro. You’ll notice something if you look deeper into his scorecards though: the judges aren’t loving his performances. Igarashi has posted just one wave that cracked the 8-point barrier — an 8.50 in round two of the Margaret River Pro. Igarashi’s average heat score is a 13.37 through four events, down from 13.71 in a 2025 season in which he finished seventh in the final season rankings.
The 2021 Olympic silver medalist and one-time WSL Finals competitor has been looking to reclaim his mojo for a couple of years now. He actually turned in similar finishes through the first four events of 2025 but managed to get on enough of a roll that he had an outside shot at the top five by year’s end. He had just one event in 2024 in which he made it past the Round of 16. You can imagine he’s getting frustrated with going home early, and his recent appearance at the New Zealand Pro didn’t magically turn everything around.
“It just feels like it’s impossible for me to make any heats. It feels impossible,” he told his coach, Jake Patterson after losing his round three heat in Raglan. The context of the entire conversation is missing from the soundbite shared in his Eye of the Storm vlog, but it seems like Igarashi isn’t talking about his own ability to win a heat or not. He’s talking about frustration with the scores he’s getting from judges. “I don’t know what else I can do,” he says.
“I didn’t say anything last week. We’ve needed to say something,” Patterson says.
Igarashi’s focus seemed to change to the things he can control by the next morning when packing up to leave Raglan.
“I just feel like I haven’t really been in rhythm. So I gotta figure that out — how I can get more in rhythm,” joking that he’ll take advice from online commenters if anybody knows how he can get his groove back.
