Erin Brooks made history clinching her first CT win during her debut appearance in the big league’s at Cloudbreak in Fiji, while the WSL final five places were confirmed as the regular season was brought to an end.

Griffin Colapinto won the men’s event, taking home his second victory of the year and in the process, he solidified his second place on the overall rankings.

Coming into the event as a 17-year-old wildcard, Erin Brooks had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The Canadian surfed with expert flair and looked at home in the big open blue walls of Cloudbreak. She also showed competitive and tactical nuance beyond her years to take down names such as Caity Simmers and Molly Picklum on her way to victory.

Erin currently sits fourth on the Challenger Series and looks likely to qualify for the tour full time next year. If her performance at Fiji is anything to go by, she could be an instant title threat next season.

On her way to victory, Erin ousted Tatiana Weston Webb in the final, who was also one of the stories of the event. Coming into Fiji, Tati was seventh in the overall rankings and needed a significant result to climb into the final five conversations. However, she was always bound to be a favourite in big left hand barrels.

Throughout the week Tati looked at home in the solid conditions and given Gabriela Bryan’s early exit, the door was left wide open for the Brazilian who stormed right through on her way to the final, eventually clinching fifth spot on the overall rankings.

Above Tati there was no movement on the leaderboard with Caity Simmers heading into Trestles in pole position and Caroline Marks, Brissa Hennessy and Molly Picklum finishing in second, third and fourth respectively.

On the men’s side, John John Florence had already secured his place as the top seed for Trestles with a dominant display throughout the season. Depending on the eventual outcome after Trestles, you wonder if John ever thinks back to a time pre final-five where he would’ve taken home the trophy already.

As Fiji got underway in solid conditions it looked like Gabby, who seems to perform best when under immense pressure, was going to go full beast mode and steamroll the event and head straight into Trestles full of confidence. He picked up the highest heat score of the opening round with a 9.17 and 8.50 as he found the right waves that hit the reef perfectly to create big open tubes.

Gabby continued that dominant display in the round of 16 with a 9.87 against Jake Marshall. The Brazilian is renowned for turning it on and coming out swinging when his back is firmly against the wall and his performance in the first two rounds already had me envisioning a scenario where he goes on a crazy unstoppable run in Fiji and at Trestles, eventually leading to a battle of him vs John John for the world title.

However, in a similar vein to much of his 2024 campaign, just when you thought Gabby was clicking into gear, he was stopped in his tracks by Griffin in the Quarters.

Griff looked on point throughout the event and solidified his second place finish on the overall rankings, cementing his status as a regular title contender. The Californian will be looking to harness the energy of the home crowd support once again when Trestles kicks off next month.

Jack Robbo clinched third spot and also played spoiler to his best friend on tour Yago Dora. Yago and Jack met in Quarter-Final two, with the Brazilian needing to advance to stand a chance of making the final five. Unfortunately, the waves were lackluster compared to the previous days of competition and Yago was not able to repeat the heroics he had displayed earlier in the event.

The final five contingent will be quietly pleased Yago fell short, as the Brazilian could’ve been lethal with his high performance repertoire of aerials and fin-blows in the skate-park like ramps of Trestles.

Ethan Ewing looked in form and consistent as ever throughout the event and a semi-final finish meant that he jumped one place to fourth in the overall rankings, meaning he will have one less heat to surf at Trestles on his way to a potential world title. The Australian has already proved that his rail game is good enough at Lowers as he finished second in the final five event last season and he will be hoping to go one better this year.

Italo rounds off the top five for the men and is the only Brazilian in with a shot at the world title this year.

Based on form and home court advantage Griffin could be a top pick to clinch his first world title and on the women’s side, it’s Caity’s title to lose after picking up three victories during the 2024 season. The WSL finals runs from 6-14 September.