Southern California surfers secure spots in world championship

Aug 15, 2025 - 22:00

TEAHUPO'O, Tahiti (FOX 5/KUSI) -- The waves were pumping for Finals Day at the Lexus Tahiti Pro, stop No. 11 of 12 on the World Surf League (WSL) 2025 Championship Tour.

With 6-to-8-foot-plus barrels at Teahupo’o, one of the world’s heaviest waves, Wednesday was a day of high-performance surfing and career-defining heats.

Oceanside's Caitlin Simmers and San Clemente's Griffin Colapinto finished as runner-ups to Australians Molly Picklum and Jack Robinson. The results secured Simmers and Colapinto the No. 3 seeds heading into the world championships at Cloudbreak, Fiji. They will be representing Southern California in the water, along with San Clemente resident Caroline Marks.

Oceanside's reigning World Champion in Final 5

The women’s Tahiti Final ended in an overpowering victory for Picklum, who posted a 17.26 heat total, one of her highest totals of the season. Simmers earned just 4.94 from her two-wave total, but the score doesn’t account for the near misses of the reigning World Champion.

Despite the final outcome, Simmers was a standout throughout the event, riding some of the longest, deepest tubes of the week with superior technique and style.

Her second final appearance in Tahiti not only earned her place in the Final 5 but also gave her the perfect warm-up for the hollow reef barrels of Cloudbreak, where she will defend her World Title later this month.

“Molly ripped that one, and I had fun, too. I got some good visions and also some good wipeouts and everything you want out here, I guess, except to win," Simmers said in an interview with WSL.

Colapinto to represent USA in men's Finals

Colapinto finally broke through to the Final 5, jumping three spots in the rankings during Tahiti competition. This will be his third consecutive appearance at the championship.

With three runner-up finishes and two third-place results in the last five events, Colapinto heads into the Lexus WSL Finals Fiji with arguably the strongest momentum of any surfer on tour. Plus, Cloudbreak’s long lefts could play perfectly to his sharp rail game.

"I'm just super, super grateful," Colapinto said. "I've put in so much preparation and hard work over the years. It's my eighth year coming to Tahiti and competing in this contest, and this is my first time making Finals Day.”

San Clemente Resident earned Finals spot

Marks is set to chase her second world title, following her win in 2023.

The Florida native clinched her spot in this year’s Final 5 after making the semifinals in Tahiti–the same surf break where she earned her 2024 Olympic gold medal.

Next and final stop

Several surfers who had been hoping to clinch their spots in the Final 5 at the Tahiti Pro left disappointed, including Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi, who went into the event ranked high.

The Lexus WSL Finals will be the 12th and final stop on the 2025 WSL Championship Tour.

The one-day, winner-takes-all competition will be held at Cloudbreak in Fiji, holding a competition window from Aug. 27 through Sept. 4.

The event will be broadcast live on WorldSurfLeague.com, and the free WSL App.

This is the first time the finals will be held at Cloudbreak, following several years at Lower Trestles south of San Clemente. It is also the last year for the Final 5 format.

The 2026 season welcomes a significant evolution to the CT, reimagined to meet the ambitions and momentum of surfing’s next chapter. The world title race will return next year to a more traditional, points-driven competition that combines a high-stakes finale with the depths of a full-season race, and it will end at Pipeline at the North Shore of Hawaii.

2025 Final 5

Men: