Callum Robson just thrust himself into the picture for a 2026 CT campaign. Photo: Tony Heff//WSL
Eight surfers had chances to qualify for the 2026 Championship Tour before the Lexus Pipe Challenger began. Of course, it was impossible for all of those scenarios to play out and all eight to qualify by the end of one contest, but in the end it was only Eli Hanneman celebrating his new promotion by making it to the final. In fact, he’s the only person to qualify for the CT thus far with one more event to go. That leaves nine spots remaining when the Challenger Series wraps up in Australia, but there were a handful of surfers whose results on the North Shore moved them within arm’s reach of locking up a CT campaign. Here are the three who just shook things up (or nearly solidified their spots):
Callum Robson
Callum Robson has three CT seasons under his belt (2022-2024) and has been looking for a return since falling to the cut in 2024. He was nowhere near the conversation before Pipe but winning the event Thursday thrust him right onto the doorstep, making the largest jump up the rankings by far (23 spots). He’s sitting just over 1,200 points behind 10th place on the leaderboard (Jacob Willcox) now.
Ironically, Robson was in this exact position at the end of the 2024 Challenger Series season. The Australian earned a second place finish at the Ericeira Pro, the second to last stop on the series that year, and was sitting in the same 11th place seed on the leaderboard. He earned an equal 33rd at the Saquarema Pro and not only missed the cut, but fell from the 11th place spot which eventually became a CT injury replacement. That spot eventually put Alan Cleland Jr. on the CT.
Morgan Cibilic
Morgan Cibilic was below the CT qualification line before Pipe with no mathematical chance to wrap up qualification yet. His outlook changed significantly by earning a second-place finish and jumping seven spots into the list of surfers now in position for promotion. The last time Cibilic saw a full season on the CT was his rookie campaign in 2021 when he appeared in the WSL Finals and finished the season in the top five. It’s been a long road back to this point and Cibilic’s most recent results as a CT wildcard show he’s still got the goods to wreck heat draws. He sent Jack Robinson home in the elimination round (for the second year in a row) and then Ethan Ewing in the Round of 32 at the Gold Coast Pro last year. At Bells, he took down Jordy Smith, Leo Fioravanti, and 2024 Bells winner Cole Houshmand en route to a third place finish.
Kauli Vaast is knocking on the door of the CT. Photo: Mike Ito//WSL
Kauli Vast
Kauli Vaast and George Pittar both needed at least a third place finish at Pipe to lock up qualification but both fell short when they exited in the quarterfinal. Both moved up the rankings with their results and both are in good position to qualify at the Newcastle SURFEST in March, but it was Vaast who picked up the most ground. His result also shows the razor thin margins and high stakes in CS heat draws, because while both made the quarterfinal, the difference between their results was just one wave. Vaast took the third place finish in his quarterfinal heat and didn’t advance to the semi because local wildcard Joey Johnston edged him out with a high single wave score tie breaker (both had a 12.2 heat score). Pittar, meanwhile, finished fourth in his quarterfinal heat and took home a 13th place finish to Vaast’s 9th.
Like I said, both are in a good position heading into the final event, but Vaast picked up the most ground at Pipe. No doubt the Olympic gold medalist will be a fan favorite if he can qualify for a rookie CT campaign.
