Morgan Cibilic announced that he’s undergoing surgery that will keep him out of the Philippines Pro and, probably, the season finale at Pipeline. He says he suffered a fractured tibia and ruptured syndesmosis due to a last-minute air attempt in his quarterfinal loss to Gabriel Medina in Portugal.
“Not exactly how I wanted to finish my Portugal campaign…been a lot of thoughts the past week after the event, having to pull out of the Philippines sucks, especially as I feel I have a good connection there. It’s an epic place!” Cibilic wrote on Instagram. “Still a bit of uncertainty of my journey ahead, best case scenario I could be back for Pipe, but it’s a very slim chance, but I’ll be doing everything in my power to get there.”
“In the meantime, there’s not much I can do but rest up and prepare for Pipe, fingers crossed I’m a fast healer. Looking forward to watching Cloud 9, going to be an exciting new tour event,” he added.
Missing the final two events of the season doesn’t mean that Cibilic won’t re-qualify for the 2027 tour. He’s currently ranked 17th, above the top-22 re-qualification mark. He has 10 events under his belt, and only nine count towards a surfer’s final points total.
The disadvantage of missing the next two events is that the five surfers ranked 18 through 22 will have a chance to improve their standing. Plus, not surfing at Pipeline means missing out on an event that is weighted 1.5 times more than other events, providing surfers with extra opportunity to move up the rankings.
Thanks to a runner-up finish at Raglan, Cibilic should be safe. The 27-year-old made the Final 5 in 2021, then missed the mid-season cut in 2022. He missed three seasons on the CT and re-qualified for the 2026 tour.
