Imaikalani deVault at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro. Photo: Ryder//WSL
Nobody will be watching the men’s side of the remaining Margaret River Pro heats this week as intensely as Alejo Muniz. As of now, he owns the 22nd and final spot on the men’s Championship Tour before the 2025 mid-season cut becomes official. Only one man can take that spot from him: Hawaii’s Imaikalani deVault.
The casualties of this year’s mid-season cut haven’t felt as high stakes as they were in the beginning of this little WSL experiment. I say that knowing full well it’s coming from the perspective of somebody who watches from the outside and whose job it is to create conversations about the league, meaning my use of the word “stakes” has absolutely no weight relative to the careers hanging in the balance.
The stakes for deVault and Muniz at this point couldn’t be more life-changing. So I’m not being flippant, just pointing out that the conversations aren’t as hot, the drama isn’t ratcheted up like we’re back at Margs in 2021, and we’re not constantly being shown videos of surfers crying as they realize their fate is sealed. Maybe it’s just four years of cut fatigue and the whole thing feels like a fact of tour life finally, or maybe it’s not as big of a cloud over the CT because this is the last time we’ll be talking about it. And this all adds up to the simplicity of the final cut-line scenario making for an intriguing watch whenever things pick up at the quarterfinals this week. So here’s how the final puzzle piece fits for the final two surfers sitting at the cut line: if Imaikalani deVault wins the Margaret River Pro, he stays on tour. If he falls anywhere short of that, Muniz holds onto his spot.
“I’m just really enjoying how I’m surfing in my heats. I’m just stoked to kind of be putting good performances together. Hopefully, the next round has good waves because Jordy [Smith] is probably one of the best out here, so it’s going to be a battle,” deVault said, referring to his upcoming quarterfinal heat with current world number two, Jordy Smith.
This isn’t the first time the mid-season cut has come down to an all-or-nothing scenario for a surfer. Isabella Nichols came into Finals Day at the 2022 Margaret River Pro sitting at 12th on the rankings. She needed to win the event to save her rookie season on tour, which she did. Nichols finished out the season just about 500 points shy of Gabriela Bryan for Rooke of the Year.
A similar run for deVault would be a big story. It’d also catapult him through the rankings. A second place finish would leave the Hawaiian about 400 points shy of the mid-season cut line. A win, however, would take him from 32nd, where he sat going into Margs (he’s currently at 29 after the Round of 16), all the way up to number 16.
