Three Southern California athletes have secured their spots to surf in the world championships, which move to Fiji this year after several years of being decided at Lower Trestles.
San Clemente’s Griffin Colapinto and Caroline Marks and Oceanside’s Caitlin Simmers will be among the five men and five women surfers who will compete during the one-day showdown for the world title.
While Colapinto and Simmers came just short of earning the Lexus Tahiti Pro title on Wednesday, Aug. 13, their high placing as runners-up in the contest secured their chance trip to the World Surf League finals at Cloudbreak in Fiji.
It is the first time the world title race will be held there, following several years at Lower Trestles south of San Clemente. It is also the last year for the Final 5 format, with next year returning to a more traditional, points-driven title race that ends at Pipeline on the North Shore of Hawaii.
These will be the second finals for Simmers, the reigning world champion, and a third attempt for Colapinto, who twice has made the Final 5 cut, but has yet to clinch the championship.
It will be Marks’ second run at a world title since the Florida native won in 2023. She earned her spot in the WSL Final 5 after making the semifinals in Tahiti, the same barreling surf break where she earned the 2024 Olympic gold medal.
The drama that unfolded at the last stop on the World Tour this week left plenty of disappointed surfers who had been hoping to clinch their Final 5 spots, including Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi, who went into the event ranked high in the ratings.
An early exit from the contest opened the door for other surfers to claim his spot.
Colapinto jumped up three spots as he bested the field to land in the finals against friend Jack Robinson, an Australian surfer who was also hoping to secure his spot into the WSL Final 5, only attainable if he won the entire event, which he did in the final showdown.
“I’m just super, super grateful,” Colapinto said in an interview with WSL. “I’ve put in so much preparation and hard work over the years…with everything on the line, it’s a big hump to get over. It just felt like this time it shifted, like I’d felt the click-over and the comfort was setting in, and the number of times I’ve taken beatings at this wave. And then starting to actually make crazy barrels started to feel really good. I think all that preparation just showed on this day, so I’m super grateful.”
Leading up to the finals, Colapinto said he was “trusting the process.”
“I’ve just been telling myself life calls the shots, I am trusting life – that’s my mantra. I’m not here to get in the way of that so whatever the bigger picture is, I’m just going to let it be. It’s very relaxing, you’re not trying to force anything. If the waves come to me, they come to me, if not, it’s not meant to be,” said Colapinto.
In Simmers’ final match-up against Molly Picklum, the Australian opponent got an early start, putting big scores on the board.
Simmers dropped into massive bombs, but wiped out several times, unable to earn the points she needed to catch up to her opponent.
“I’m kind of confused right now. I was underwater for most of that final, so I’m pretty tired,” Simmers joked.
Simmers said you have to be a little bit stupid and calculated when surfing the heavy barrels at the famed surf break, which was the stage for the 2024 Olympics she also surfed for Team USA.
“I feel like I was just stupid and she was calculated. So that was kind of how it went. Molly ripped that one, and I had fun, too,” Simmers said. “I got some good visions and also some good wipeouts and everything you want out here, I guess, except to win.”
Still, she and Colapinto will have the chance at the 2025 WSL world title when the contest happens between Aug. 27 and Sept. 4 — the contest will be held on one day during that window that organizers determine to be the best day for waves and conditions.
More info: worldsurfleague.com