Two women will get a ticket here once the dust settles in Tahiti. Photo: WSL
A lot of balls are up in the air for the men’s field at the Tahiti Pro. There were four empty spots waiting to be filled for the WSL Finals when the Opening Round began Thursday morning, and one of those was quickly locked up as soon as Jordy Smith surfed. The women, however, have a much tighter race to sneak into the Final 5 in Fiji at the end of August.
Who’s Already In?
Molly Picklum, Gabriela Bryan, and Caity Simmers have all really separated themselves from the pack through 10 contests this year. Picklum finally got her first win of the season in Rio but she’d already made her way into the semifinal or further in five of the eight contests before that. She was the event runner-up in two of them. Gabriela Bryan, who had one career CT win coming into 2025, has three of them in this breakout year. Caity Simmers’ win early in the year rounds out a total of five between the top three ranked surfers collectively — the other half has been spread among the next four surfers in the rankings.
Three of those four surfers can still go to Fiji in September.
Two Spots Left, Three Surfers In Contention
Isabella Nichols
The CT vet has really turned a corner in 2025. She’s surfed the first half of the past two CT calendars and then gone straight into the CS grind to re-qualify. This year’s different though. Nichols crossed a Bells Beach win off the career bucket list and now she can lock in a final five ranking by making it as far as the Final in Tahiti.
Bettylou Sakura Johnson
Bettylou has had a breakout year with her first-career CT win coming on the Gold Coast and then coming out eight weeks later to grab her second win (Trestles).
“I am grateful for the growth,” she said during her win streak. “I’ve learned so much the last few months and I’m so happy it’s coming together.”
Sakura Johnson has made it to the quarterfinals or won in five of the past seven contests this year, which constitutes a solid enough collection of results to hold down the final spot in the top five pre-Tahiti. She can guarantee her place in Fiji by making it to the final.
Caroline Marks
Caroline Marks is knocking on the door of the final five. She’s close enough in total points for the season that in Tahiti, advancing just a round beyond either Nichols or Sakura Johnson would knock one of them out. Winning the entire event guarantees that. Marks did just that in 2023, taking down Steph Gilmore, Tyler Wright, and then Caity Simmers in order. And then there’s her Gold Medal from Teahupo’o in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
