Yago Dora (left) and Molly Picklum both became first-time world title winners in Fiji. Photos: WSL
Brazil’s Yago Dora and Australia’s Molly Picklum claimed maiden world titles at the WSL Finals in Fiji. Dora defeated Griffin Colpinto and Picklum took down an on-fire Caroline Marks, both defending their top seeds at the legendary left-hand reef of Cloudbreak.
Dora’s title continues a trend in the Final 5 era: The top-seeded male surfer has won every edition since the format was introduced in 2021. He also extended Brazil’s recent dominance of the men’s tour, joining compatriots Gabriel Medina and Filipe Toledo (x2) as champions crowned under the one-day surf-off format. The lone exception remains John John Florence, who won in 2024.
Molly Picklum continues a storied history of Australian world title holders, earning the first Aussie title since Steph Gilmore in 2022. Her win also underlines the youth takeover of the women’s Championship Tour. The last three champions – Caroline Marks (2023), Caitlin Simmers (2024), and Picklum this year – are aged 23, 19, and 22, respectively.
A performance version of Cloudbreak
After days of speculation about whether the event would run at Tavarua’s Restaurants or Cloudbreak, the WSL chose the beefier, outer reef option. Conditions were far from perfect. Tubes were scarce, and many waves fizzled down the reef without offering a lip to hit. Success hinged on patience and wave selection.
Some surfers excelled in the performance-style waves on offer, while others struggled to find rhythm. Jack Robinson, Caity Simmers, Bettylou Sakura Johnson, and, at times, Jordy Smith, didn’t fully connect with the ocean.
Robinson and Sakura-Johnson both went down in the opening rounds with heat totals in the five-point range. Robinson, who many had chosen as a favorite if the conditions were bigger, fell victim to an Italo Ferreira aerial assault.
The finals may have moved from Lower Trestles to Cloudbreak, but Ferreira didn’t feel the need to change his approach. He landed an impressive frontside rotation and multiple alley-oops to defeat Robinson and put pressure on Griffin Colapinto in the following men’s heat. Ultimately, Colapinto’s rail game notched the only men’s excellent heat of the day (16.33) and ended Ferreira’s campaign for a second world title.
Marks surfed in every women’s round of the day, defeating Sakura-Johnson, Simmers, and Gabriela Bryan en route to the final. Marks, even at just 23, was the most experienced competitor in the bracket, and it showed. Precision, strategic surfing, and consistency kept her advancing. She didn’t rely on barrels or try to force overly risky turns, but she flowed seamlessly with Cloudbreak until the final.
Despite a curious quote about finding it hard to motivate in the final heat against Dora after the Brazilian’s stellar season, Griffin Colapinto still went on a fantastic run in Fiji. Photo by Ed Sloane//World Surf League
The men’s final
In the men’s final, the magic that Griffin Colapinto rode to victory over Ferreira and Jordy Smith began to wane. The fresh legs of Dora displayed the value of holding the top seed in the bracket format. Dora looked spry and mentally sharp, selecting the best waves, highlighted by a three-maneuver combination that earned him a heat-high 8.33-point wave.
Colapinto, who had so masterfully chosen his waves and surfed Cloudbreak on his backhand in his previous heats, finally looked outmatched. That said, Colapinto got a chance to erase Dora’s storybook ending at the buzzer. He completed two critical turns and pulled into a long tube that looked like he had a chance to make. But he was clamped at the end. The tube was long enough to leave viewers wondering how, on a day virtually devoid of tubes, the judges would have scored such a technical barrel. He needed a 9.33 but only mustered a six.
With the new 2025 rule that gives the top seed the advantage of only needing to win the first heat, Dora expedited his maiden world title with a final score of 15.66 to Colapinto’s 12.33.
Caroline Marks proved again that she’s one of the best surfers in the world with an incredible run through the finals field. She just couldn’t finish against Picklum. Photo: Ed Sloane//World Surf League
The women’s final
Picklum, however, squandered her advantage and floundered in her first heat. Marks kept her momentum rolling with a 12.50 total to best Picklum’s 10.50, forcing a best-of-three final.
In the second women’s final heat, Picklum rebounded and put the pressure on Marks, finding the first meaningful barrel of the day on her backhand. She earned 8.83 points for her commitment, the highest wave score of the day. She snatched the momentum from Marks, decisively taking the second final with a 15.83 total to Marks’ 8.03.
The women’s final heat was virtually a repeat of heat two. In a déjà vu moment, Picklum locked into the barrel again, made it, and finished with a strong snap on the lip to earn another 8.83 wave score to match her day-high score that she set in the previous heat. She backed it up with more critical turns to earn an 8.10, notching the highest heat total of the entire day with 16.93 points.
Picklum extinguished any drop of momentum that Marks had from her run earlier in the day, easily besting Marks’ total of 6.24.
The Final 5 era
The 2025 WSL Finals closed the chapter on the “Final 5” format. Starting in 2026, the world title will once again be decided by a cumulative points system that weights Pipeline, the final event, 1.5 times more than the other events.
The format’s legacy differs sharply across tours. On the men’s side, the top seed won every year — Medina, Toledo (x2), Florence, and Dora. Colapinto even admitted post-final that he may have subconsciously felt Dora “deserved” the title more as the season’s top-ranked surfer, suggesting that it might have affected his performance.
“To get psyched to really want it was kinda hard,” Colapinto said on the broadcast after the final.
The women’s side told a different story. While Carissa Moore won the inaugural Final 5 in 2021, she lost the next two titles despite entering as the top seed. The suspense and drama of an underdog sneaking into a world title never materialized for the men. But it did for the women.
It will be interesting to monitor how these titles are perceived in the future when the 2021-2025 era is viewed as a small anomaly in the history of the world tour. Like Colapinto alluded to, will surfers always feel that the top-ranked surfer (Moore) “deserved” those titles?
The Championship Tour now enters a long offseason. The revamped 2026 season kicks off at Bells Beach, Australia April 1. Dora and Picklum will have seven months to celebrate their 2025 success.
