MARGARET RIVER, Western Australia, Australia (Monday, May 26, 2025) – The Semifinalists of the Western Australia Margaret River Pro, Stop No. 7 on the 2025 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), were decided in slowly declining six-to-eight-foot of predominant south swell at Main Break. As the swell decreased through the day, conditions cleaned up, seeing increasingly higher-performance surfing determine the remaining positions above the Mid-season Cut for both the women’s and men’s fields.
By day’s end, Isabella Nichols (AUS) had won herself a brand new GWM Tank 300 thanks to taking the win in the inaugural GWM Aussie Treble, while Jordy Smith (RSA) had moved to World No. 1 for the first time since 2017. Five women and one man were cut from the remainder of the 2025 CT season, and three women and one man had their places above the Cut-line confirmed.
Finals Day will be tomorrow, Tuesday, May 27. The first call will be at 7:00 a.m. AWST for a possible 7:15 a.m. start with the women’s Semifinals, followed by the men’s Semifinals and the women’s and men’s Finals to determine the winners of the 2025 Western Australia Margaret River Pro.
Bronte Macaulay Takes Down Big Names, Furthers Wildcard Run Into Semifinals
Local Wildcard Bronte Macaulay (AUS) bookended her Quarterfinal match against current World No. 3 Molly Picklum (AUS) with solid two-turn backhand combos, both scoring in the 7-point range. Macaulay’s 15.00 heat total (out of a possible 20) saw her into the Semifinals for the fourth time at her hometown event. Having announced her retirement from full-time competition at the end of last season, the 31-year-old former CT veteran accepted the wildcard with the caveat that it would likely be her last appearance in the jersey. The large crowds that showed up early in the morning to support the local favorite were rewarded by seeing Macaulay claim a buzzer-beater victory over Caroline Marks (USA), the 2023 World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, before her next victory over Picklum late in the day. Macaulay is hoping that this will be the year that she pushes through to her first-ever CT victory.
“I do want to win a lot, I’m not going to lie,” Macaulay said. “I feel like in my first two heats I didn’t really surf the way I wanted to. It was nice to get a couple of waves then. And a little bit surprising, you know, I don’t feel that fit. I’m kind of winging it a little bit. But I’m just trying to enjoy every moment. It’s probably going to be my last event, so I just want to make the most of it and enjoy the little things like walking down the stairs and getting high-fives and talking to Stomper [Mike McAuliffe], my coach, before, and enjoying being in a lineup and doing a few backhand reos. It’s been so epic seeing all the crew down here, even first thing this morning. Everyone’s here bright and early and they’re still here today, so it’s pretty special. Not many surfers get to compete in their hometown, and I get to do that so I’m just really lapping up every moment.”
Pressure-Filled Cut Scenarios See Lakey Peterson Thrive, Sally Fitzgibbons Forced Out
Heading into the day, Lakey Peterson (USA) was sitting in 15th place on the live rankings, the one spot of the remaining women’s field that won’t qualify for the 2026 season and will instead be relegated to the Challenger Series. An increase in the number of women on Tour for 2026 means that the top 14 will re-qualify for 2026, though only the top 10 will surf the remaining events of the 2025 season. Peterson surfed through two high-pressure heats today, both against former event winners, to make the Semifinals at Margaret River for the first time since her own event win in 2019. The 30-year-old Californian posted the two highest heat totals of the day for the women, saving the best for last, with a 16.34 total in her victory over 2022 event winner Isabella Nichols (AUS) in the day’s closing heat.
In the Round of 16, a loss for Peterson would mean the difference between relegation back to the Challenger Series or saving her spot on the CT in 2026. The 2018 World Title runner-up, Peterson, faced two-time World Champion Tyler Wright (AUS), who has made the Final in half of the ten times she has competed in Margaret River, winning in 2016. The two veterans fought tooth and nail in a tense match that saw long waits and priority battles precede exchanges of excellent scores. By heat’s end, Peterson had posted both the highest single wave score of the day for the women, 9.10, and the first of her two excellent heat totals, 16.10.
“It was like the gnarliest mental challenge of my life this week to just stay in it and not freak out,” Peterson said. “Surfing has given me so much, everything I have, and an amazing life, amazing friends and it’s also broken my heart so many times. I feel like I’ve just finished second so many times, like World Title, last year I got 11th, and this year I was like, I’m not doing that again. I’m going to just put my best foot forward. I guess sometimes you just have to get to the bottom to find what you’re what you’re made of…This week has been so hard. It took everything. Honestly, it’s like everything I had to just stay in it and believe in myself and just do it. I’ve been doing this a long time and I was just like, come on, I know it’s in there. And so just really proud of myself, honestly, to do it today, and in really good waves, and just so stoked to surf Lowers.”
Peterson’s Round of 16 victory solidified Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) in the No. 15 position. After a rough start to the season, Fitzgibbons gained momentum through the GWM Aussie Treble, with a Quarterfinal finish in the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and a runner-up placing in the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro, but the CT veteran hit a roadblock in Margaret River when she came up against current World No. 1, Gabriela Bryan (HAW). In their Round of 16 heat, Fitzgibbons started strong, while Bryan was unable to find any score of note. With less than two minutes on the clock, Bryan drove through a combination of two powerful carves to earn a 9.00. Bryan’s score earned her the win and kept her in the Yellow Leader Jersey for another day. It also saw Fitzgibbons land under the Mid-season Cut for the fourth year in a row, this season as the only woman currently on Tour full-time relegated to the Challenger Series.
Luana Silva Makes the Cut With Victory Over Erin Brooks, Brooks Narrowly Hangs on Above Cut-line
After two previous attempts, an ecstatic Luana Silva (BRA) made the Mid-season Cut for the first time in her career. Silva achieved her long-held goal after defeating Erin Brooks (CAN) in the Round of 16, the winner of which was guaranteed a place on Tour for the rest of the season. Brooks opened with a 7.00 for an early advantage in the heat but struggled with completions afterward. Meanwhile, Silva stayed patient, waiting for more than half the heat to open her account, but was able to open with a 6.07 of her own before delivering a more critical end-section hit on her final wave to sneak 0.30 points ahead of Brooks with a 6.73. The win secured Silva, the Olympian and reigning World Junior Champion, on the CT for the first time since her initial qualification through the 2021 Challenger Series.
“It’s a lot,” Silva said through tears. “The last two years haven’t been the easiest competitive-wise, but I never gave up. I never backed down, and I just thank my mom, my dad, and my brother for watching. They backed me so hard. I worked so hard, and I can’t believe I turned it around in just these three events in Australia. I’m so happy, so stoked. It’s for [Tatiana Weston-Webb] as well. She was the only Brazilian girl that was sticking it out for the last 10 years. I just want to back her up and be as good as she did and represent Brazil as well as she does.”
After many nervous hours waiting on the outcomes of others, Brooks was also confirmed above the Cut-line. The 2025 CT Rookie came on Tour with high expectations, both from others and from herself, and breathed a huge sigh of relief after officially making the Cut.
“Today’s been really hard,” Brooks said. “This morning didn’t start out how I wanted it to and it was really hard watching my opponents in their heat. I feel like I haven’t really surfed my best this year. I mean, I’ve shown small glimpses, but everyone sees what I can do from my clips on Instagram and they expect me to do that all the time. I come in a lot from my heats and I say on the post-heat interview that I’m not happy with my surfing, and I hope that in this back half of the year, I can make that switch and come in happy from my heats, and be proud of the surfing that I’m doing, and be a smarter competitor, because I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Being a rookie, this pressure of the Cut and everything, it’s definitely hit me a little harder than I had hoped. And everyone talking about the Final 5 being at Fiji and seeing my performance last year they expect me to be kind of close to there. Hopefully in this back half of the year I can get some better results and be there, that’d be the dream.”
Sawyer Lindblad (USA), Vahine Fierro (FRA), Bella Kenworthy (USA), and Brisa Hennessy (CRC) all placed below the Mid-season Cut-line, but within the top 14. While the four won’t compete in the remaining events of the 2025 season, their qualification for the 2026 CT is now secure.
Hennessy found herself eliminated under the Cut-line after Caity Simmers (USA) executed multiple critical maneuvers on a large set wave to earn an excellent 8.50 in their Round of 16 heat. Hennessy had led for much of the high-scoring match-up, finding her best number, a 7.83, on the wave directly before Simmers. Expecting to extend her lead, Hennessy was instead left needing a 6.68, a number she was unable to find. After falling victim to the Mid-season Cut in 2023, Hennessy returned to the highest finish of her career in 2024, World No. 4. The reigning World Champion, Simmers, moved into the Semifinals at Margaret River for the first time after defeating Luana Silva (BRA) in the Quarterfinals.
Colapinto Brothers Lead the Charge: Griffin Scores Third Perfect 10, Crosby Makes Third Semifinal
The first men’s Quarterfinal opened with fireworks when Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) and Griffin Colapinto (USA) burst into the highest range of the judging scale. Fioravanti emerged from a seemingly impossible end section hit to collect a 9.00, before backing it up with a 6.73 and leaving Colapinto in need of a 9.40. Gathering speed on a solid-sized wave, Colapinto launched a lofty full rotation air reverse to earn a Perfect 10-point score, the third of his career, and move through to the Quarterfinals at Margaret River for the fifth year in a row.
“The 10 was one of the most incredible moments of my life,” G. Colapinto said. “When I landed it, I landed, and then it took me a while to realize that this was like real life. I was like, ‘I’m on my board, okay.’ I was just tripping. After [Leonardo Fioravanti] got his 9, I was kind of going, ‘Okay, I need two waves.’ I thought in my head, it’s going to be a hard fight back, and then, yeah, I recognized that the ones that were breaking deep were probably better for air sections because you can get the slingshot, and then that wave was just perfect for it. But yeah, when I paddled back out, I was like, wow, there’s still a lot of time left, and Leo only needs a 7, and I was like, okay, I got to forget about that, but it was really hard. And then no waves really came for Leo at the end, so Mother Nature hooked me up on that one.”
The surfer with the steepest trajectory in the live rankings during the Margaret River Pro, Crosby Colapinto (USA), has already moved himself up 11 places after solidifying a place in the Semifinals with a victory over local Wildcard Jacob Willcox (AUS). Colapinto, the 2024 Rookie of the Year, opened with an 8.83 against his fellow 2024 rookie, Willcox, who fell off Tour at the Mid-season Cut in Margaret River last year. The West Australian was unable to rebound after Colapinto’s strong start, seeing the Californian through to the third Semifinal of his career. Having jumped the Mid-season Cut with his last heat win, Colapinto is now pushing to continue his rankings climb.
“It’s been such a wild week of emotions,” C. Colapinto said. “Watching [Griffin Colapinto] at The Box and having to come back down to earth after seeing that barrel. And then watching Griffin’s 10 was mind-blowing. And then having to just come back to focusing on myself, and then going out there and doing one wave at a time. So it’s just been a wild week and we’re still going. Definitely nice, like, making the cut and then going into that heat I could feel I was a little more free than the heats before. But definitely just wanted to keep going and do well, and keep going with my brother too. Honestly just a really cool week, a week that I’ll remember forever.”
Griffin will next face Barron Mamiya (HAW), who defeated Connor O’Leary (JPN) in the second Quarterfinal, while Crosby will meet Jordy Smith (RSA). The longest-standing member of the Tour, Smith, moved to No. 1 on the rankings for the first time since 2017 and will wear the Yellow Leader Jersey at CT Stop No. 8, the Lexus Trestles Pro, which will take place at the Colapinto brothers’ home of San Clemente.
Smith’s heat win also solidified the men’s Mid-season Cut conversation. His elimination of Imaikalani deVault (HAW) relegated the Hawaiian to the Challenger Series and left Alejo Muniz (BRA) as the final surfer above the Cut-line.
For more information and highlights from today’s competition at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.
Championship Tour Requalification and Relegation
Women’s
Made the Cut:
- Gabriela Bryan (HAW)
- Caity Simmers (USA)
- Molly Picklum (AUS)
- Isabella Nichols (AUS)
- Tyler Wright (AUS)
- Caroline Marks (USA)
- Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW)
- Luana Silva (BRA)
- Lakey Peterson (USA)
- Erin Brooks (CAN)
Missed the Cut (Will Not Continue to 2025 CT Backhalf, Qualified for 2026 CT):
- Sawyer Lindblad (USA)
- Vahine Fierro (FRA)
- Bella Kenworthy (USA)
- Brisa Hennessy (CRC)
Relegated to the Challenger Series:
- Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
- Johanne Defay (FRA)
- Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA)
- Nadia Erostarbe (ESP)
Men’s
Made the Cut:
- Jordy Smith (RSA)
- Italo Ferreira (BRA)
- Yago Dora (BRA)
- Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
- Barron Mamiya (HAW)
- Ethan Ewing (AUS)
- Filipe Toledo (BRA)
- Miguel Pupo (BRA)
- Griffin Colapinto (USA)
- Jake Marshall (USA)
- Rio Waida (INA)
- Connor O’Leary (JPN)
- Marco Mignot (FRA)
- Crosby Colapinto (USA)
- Alan Cleland (MEX)
- Joao Chianca (BRA)
- Joel Vaughan (AUS)
- Seth Moniz (HAW)
- Cole Houshmand (USA)
- Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Missed the Cut/Relegated to Challenger Series:
- Matthew McGillivray (RSA)
- Liam O’Brien (AUS)
- Jackson Bunch (HAW)
- George Pittar (AUS)
- Ian Gouveia (BRA)
- Samuel Pupo (BRA)
- Imaikalani deVault (HAW)
- Deivid Silva (BRA)
- Ian Gentil (HAW)
- Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR)
- Edgard Groggia (BRA)
- Ryan Callinan (AUS)
- Gabriel Medina (BRA) – Awarded 2026 WSL Season Wildcard
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Women’s Round of 16 Results:
HEAT 1: Molly Picklum (AUS) 9.17 DEF. Bella Kenworthy (USA) 8.10
HEAT 2: Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 8.73 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 8.33
HEAT 3: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 14.50 DEF. Brisa Hennessy (CRC) 14.16
HEAT 4: Luana Silva (BRA) 12.80 DEF. Erin Brooks (CAN) 12.50
HEAT 5: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 12.83 DEF. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 11.83
HEAT 6: Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 9.20 DEF. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 5.73
HEAT 7: Isabella Nichols (AUS) 13.33 DEF. Vahine Fierro (FRA) 10.84
HEAT 8: Lakey Peterson (USA) 16.10 DEF. Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.27
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 16.33 DEF. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 15.73
HEAT 2: Barron Mamiya (HAW) 11.16 DEF. Connor O’Leary (JPN) 8.66
HEAT 3: Crosby Colapinto (USA) 15.66 DEF. Jacob Willcox (AUS) 11.10
HEAT 4: Jordy Smith (RSA) 14.50 DEF. Imaikalani deVault (HAW) 11.50
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 15.00 DEF. Molly Picklum (AUS) 12.54
HEAT 2: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 9.50 DEF. Luana Silva (BRA) 8.84
HEAT 3: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 12.97 DEF. Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 8.83
HEAT 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) 16.34 DEF. Isabella Nichols (AUS) 14.33
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Men’s Semifinal Matchups:
HEAT 1: Griffin Colapinto (USA) vs. Barron Mamiya (HAW)
HEAT 2: Crosby Colapinto (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (RSA)
Western Australia Margaret River Pro Women’s Semifinal Matchups:
HEAT 1: Bronte Macaulay (AUS) vs. Caitlin Simmers (USA)
HEAT 2: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) vs. Lakey Peterson (USA)
Watch LIVE
The Western Australia Margaret River Pro will hold a competition window through May 27, 2025. The event will be broadcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com, and the free WSL App. Check out more ways to watch from the WSL’s broadcast partners.
The Western Australia Margaret River Pro is Proudly Supported by Tourism WA, Red Bull, YETI, Surfline, True Surf, Bonsoy, GWM, Stone & Wood, Oakberry, Hydralyte, Bioglan Boost Mobile, Bond University, Fatboy Bikes, Rusty, Shire of Augusta Margaret River, and Spudshed.
For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com
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