WSL Surf Guide 2024

EVENT GUIDE

LEXUS WSL FINALS AT LOWER TRESTLES SEPTEMBER 6-14, 2024

Photo: Ella Boyd

San Clemente Times August 29, - September 4, 2024

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2024 LEXUS WSL FINALS AT LOWER TRESTLES

By Ella Boyd

T

he 2024 Lexus WSL Finals, with a competition window or holding period from Sept.

6-14, is the final stop of the WSL Championship Tour held right here at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California.

After nine events, from the first stop of the Championship Tour, held at Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore at the end of January (and sometimes early February), through most recently at Cloudbreak in Fiji, Lower Trestles is now the place where dreams come to be either made or broken.

Launched in 2021 to ensure that surfing’s world titles would be decided in a one-day, winner-take-all format, the WSL Finals feature the top five men and top five women from the season-ending WSL rankings going head to head for the world titles. This will be the fourth and final time the WSL Finals are contested at Lower Trestles, with the world championships moving in 2025 to Cloudbreak in Fiji, off the island of Tavarua in the South Pacific. (Lexus replaced San Clemente-based Rip Curl as the title sponsor this year.)

With the world title on the line, here is a quick rundown on how the format works: THE BASICS The contest is held at Lower Trestles, often referred to simply as Lowers. The mechanical, cobblestone point-break wave is the perfect spot for high-octane surfing, offering both lefts and rights that are as reliable as they are long.

The WSL Final 5 (5 men and 5 women), comprised of the surfers with the most points from the regular CT season, will battle it out on one day within the nine-day holding period from September 6-14. The holding period enables organizers to choose a day for the best chance for swell.

THE FORMAT At the end of the regular season, No. 1-rated male and No. 1-rated female surfer receive a direct berth into the Title Match, a best-of-three showdown that determines the World Champion.

All other surfers in the Final 5 enter the Lexus WSL Finals bracket based on their personal year-end rankings.

The women compete first, and then the men surf the following match. Each surf battle alternates between men and women dueling it out to move forward in the Finals.

Match 1: The No. 5-ranked surfer competes against the No. 4-ranked surfer in the first heat.

Match 2: The winner of Match 1 faces off against the No. 3-ranked surfer.

Match 3: The winner of Match 2 faces off against the No 2-ranked surfer.

Title Match: The winner of Match 3 moves on to the best-of-3 title match against the World No. 1 in these heats. The first surfer to win two out of three heats wins the title of undisputed 2024 World Champion.

(Photo: DIZ/ World Surf League)

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2024 Lexus WSL Finals:

Who to Watch From Olympians to charging up-and-comers, this year’s WSL Finals event is packed with every type of competitive surfer, and will surely make for an entertaining day from the beach.

John John Florence

Griffin Colapinto

Jack Robinson

Ethan Ewing

Italo Ferreira

Caitlyn Simmers

Caroline Marks

Brisa Hennessy

Molly Picklum

Tatiana Weston-Webb

Photos: World Surf League

By Ella Boyd

MEN

WOMEN

John John Florence John John Florence, an American surfer raised on the island of Oahu, is a two-time WSL world champion, Olympian, and not just a strong competitor; Florence also is one of the most compelling freesurfers of our time. While he did not compete last year, he has a decade of competitive experience under his belt, including 5 Triple Crown of Surfing Championship wins. Florence also has the No. 1 seed in the upcoming WSL Finals, and it is safe to say the two-time world champion will be looking for his third championship win this time around.

Caitlyn Simmers Caitlyn Simmers has had an upward trajectory with her scores this season, and her last few stops on the tour have given us a taste of what the 18-year-old regular-footer is capable of accomplishing. Although Simmers has only been competing on the tour since 2021, with multiple first-place finishes this season – at Pipeline, Bells Beach, and in Rio – Simmers has become many people’s favorite surfer and a champion for aspiring competitive surfers everywhere. Hailing not far from San Clemente, in Oceanside, Simmers is not only the youngest competitor in the Finals, but the No. 1-ranked women’s surfer, making her a top favorite.

Griffin Colapinto Another hometown hero, Griffin Colapinto, just won the ninth stop of the WSL Championship Tour in Fiji at Cloudbreak, making him the second-ranked surfer going into the Finals. The 26-year-old San Clementean has been on the Championship Tour since 2018, and each year, he has improved his final ranking. Last year, Colapinto almost cinched his first Championship title, coming in third.

Regular-footed Colapinto recently competed in the Olympic Games, and although he did not win his heat, he put on a show, giving us all a taste of what the Lowers local is capable of achieving. In order to continue his trend of bettering his standing each tour, Colapinto has to finish on the podium. He wants this win, he will be competing on home turf, and he will definitely be pulling out all the stops to get there.

Caroline Marks Caroline Marks has a couple of things playing to her advantage: she was the undisputed champion on the tour last season, has been competing on the tour for almost a decade, and surfs Lowers as her home break. The 22-year-old goofy-footer is familiar with the intricacies of both Trestles and competition techniques, and although she is currently ranked No. 2 for women, she absolutely has a shot at becoming the champion for the second year in a row.

Brisa Hennessy Brisa Hennessy, a 24-year-old regular-footer from Costa Rica, has had many podium finishes this season, but has not yet clinched a first-place win. However, Hennessy has been competing on the Championship Tour since 2016, and finished fifth in 2022. She competed in the Tokyo Olympics as well as the recent Paris Olympics in Tahiti, and her fourth-place finish in Tahiti cements her as a legitimate competitor. The Championship title is not out of the picture yet for Hennessy.

Jack Robinson Australian Jack Robinson will again be competing in the WSL Finals this season after finishing fifth overall in 2023. With multiple wins this season (at Margaret River and Sunset Beach), a recent silver medal in the Olympics in Tahiti, and with his breakout year in 2022, Robinson can and will be bringing the heat this time around. Currently, Robinson is sitting in third overall, but like the competitors currently sitting above him, Robinson has almost a decade of experience competing on the Championship Tour to bolster his confidence, even surfing a break that is nowhere near his home of Margaret River, Australia.

Ethan Ewing Also from Australia, Ethan Ewing is only 25 years old, but he has been a force to reckon with on the Championship Tour since 2017. With flawless style and a smooth sense of control in all varieties of waves and conditions, last year, Ewing finished in second place overall and is currently sitting in fourth. This will be Ewing’s third chance to compete in the Finals, and his scores at the stops this year have been consistently high. Although he does not have that dramatic upward trajectory that Ferreira or Robinson have, he is a consistent competitor and will be a surfer to watch during the Finals.

Italo Ferreira Italo Ferreira squeaked into the Final 5 for this year’s WSL Finals, and he will be an interesting surfer to keep an eye on. The 29-year-old Brazilian has seen multiple first-place finishes this season, in Tahiti and in Rio, and although his scores have not been consistent, he has proven himself in the Championship Tour previously. Ferreira was the undisputed champion in 2019 and took second place in 2022. It is hard to say how things will shake out this time around, but it is not out of the realm of possibility to believe Ferreira could walk away as this season’s World Champion.

San Clemente Times August 29, - September 4, 2024

Molly Picklum Australian Molly Picklum is only 21 years old, but competed in the recent Olympics and won this season’s tour stop at Sunset Beach. Although Picklum has only been competing on the tour since 2022, she finished fifth in 2023 and has a chance of winning this time around. While she may not be as experienced in WSL competitions as the surfers currently ranked above her, Picklum has back-to-back Australian Championships titles, she won the Australian Pro Junior in 2019, and she was named Female Rising Star at the 2020 Australian Surfing Awards. A win at the WSL Championship Tour at Lower Trestles might surprise some, but would not be a surprise to others.

Tatiana Weston-Webb A 28-year-old, goofy-footer, Tatiana Weston-Webb has a decade of experience competing on the Championship Tour, not to mention a second-place finish overall in 2021. She has won plenty of stops over the last decade, and her strong surfing in the Olympics in Tahiti make sure that she is not out of the picture to win this season’s Championship title. She has competed in the WSL Finals four times before this season, and is far from a stranger surfing with a jersey on. Although she just squeaked into this year’s Final 5, she has the experience some of her other competitors have not had the time to acquire yet. At a wave like Lowers, this can come in handier than one may think.

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2024 Lexus WSL Finals What Makes This Year’s Finals Different?

By Ella Boyd

W

e are coming off the Olympics in Tahiti, and while the waves at Lowers and Teahupo’o could not be more different, this makes the WSL Finals all the more exciting. Lowers offers high-performance waves, but they are more similar to a wave pool than to waves one finds in tropical locales such as Indonesia or Hawai’i.

While spectators have a good idea of how each surfer performs in different waves (we all know Marks and Ferreira perform exceptionally in machine-like conditions), there are many competitors whose recent standout performances make us do a double-take in our Finals ranking predictions.

We have surfers such as John John Florence who has spent years competing on the tour, is a force to be reckoned with in all types of waves, but hasn’t won the Championship Title since 2017.

Then, there are other surfers such as Erin Brooks, who has only spent a few years on the Championship Tour but could very well take the title at the Finals. The possibility that an 18-year-old surfer could be crowned undisputed 2024 World Champion makes this event especially exciting. There is a lot on the table, and history could easily be made right here at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, as it has so many times before.

The sheer amount of variety in experience and wave-riding styles make this season’s WSL Championship Tour finals one to watch. We have had a solid summer of waves in San Clemente so far, and while the swell forecast right now is looking like we’re going to be waiting for the second half of the holding period to hold the Finals, just like some of the stops on the tour this season, you never know what is going to happen.

John John Florence (Photo: World Surf League)

San Clemente Times August 29, - September 4, 2024

Erin Brooks (Photo: World Surf League)

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Fresh Off Olympic Gold Hometown Hero Caroline Marks Looks for a Finals Win Repeat

By Ella Boyd

S

an Clemente’s own Caroline Marks, the youngest woman to ever compete in a WSL event at just 13 years old, just won a gold medal for surfing in the Paris Olympics – at Teahupo’o in Tahiti, no less. It goes without saying that Marks is not just one to watch, but likely poses the biggest threat to the other four women in the WSL Final Five, especially with her familiarity to Lower Trestles.

In 2023, the goofy-footed Marks won the Rip Curl WSL Finals at Lower Trestles, awarding her the title of undisputed world champion. She is looking to repeat her win again this year against serious contenders: Caitlyn Simmers, Brisa Hennessy, Molly Picklum, and Tatiana Weston-Webb.

Marks grew up in Florida (sound similar to any other surf legend?) and became Rookie of the Year in 2018 when she competed on the WSL Championship Tour for her first year, finishing third in three events. In 2019, Marks beat Stephanie Gilmore at Gilmore’s home break of Duranbah, NSW, Australia. She won her first WSL event title that year, finishing second on the WSL Championship Tour and gaining a spot in the 2020 Olympics, contested in Tokyo in 2021 because of the pandemic.

Though she finished fourth in the Olympics that year, she was the youngest surfer to qualify – a win in and of itself. Unfortunately, in 2022, Marks stepped away from competing for a

while, citing medical and health issues. She bounced back and, in 2023, won the WSL Finals at Lowers.

In 2024, Marks earned a gold medal at the Olympics and was understandably ecstatic about the win in Tahiti. For her first Olympic gold medal, there was no better—or more respected venue—to achieve that goal. Marks said, “To win the final, you had to get in the barrel, which is what you dream of when you surf Teahupo’o. Overall, (I’m) really happy. It was an amazing day.”

Marks had battled it out for the Olympic gold against Tatiana Weston-Webb in an exciting final heat, showcasing her wave-reading abilities and guts even in big, heavy surf. Marks and Weston-Webb had an extremely close final heat, with Weston-Webb grabbing the last wave, but ultimately not scoring high enough to overtake Marks.

Marks said the Olympic gold medal wasn’t only exciting for her, but for her family and friends as well. “I’m so happy to do this for my family and everyone back home,” she said afterward.

Coming off an Olympic gold medal win, with the WSL Finals set to happen on Marks’ home turf, Caroline is absolutely a surfer to watch as the women battle it out in their Final 5.

San Clemente has an easy surfer to root for, with Marks being a hometown hero. However, even for those living elsewhere, it would be hard not to place one’s money on Marks.

Caroline Marks (World Surf League)

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