A young star and tour veteran have won the Margaret River Pro, with Hawaii’s Gabriela Bryan and South Africa’s Jordy Smith celebrating after a challenging week of surfing.
It is Bryan’s second successive win at the Margaret River Pro, and her second win in the World Surf League’s Championship Tour this year.
Posting a 9.5 and securing the best combined total for the women’s series so far, Bryan holds onto the yellow jersey and puts extra space between herself and 19-year-old Caitlin Simmers, who sits at a close number two on the women’s world rankings.
Gabriela Bryan (pictured) outscored Lakey Peterson to advance to the finals against Caitlin Simmers. (Supplied: World Surf League/Cait Miers)
She told the World Surf League she was still getting used to her status as the competition’s front-runner.
“Every heat I have with it I’m getting more comfortable,” Bryan said.
“I have amazing people supporting me and I honestly couldn’t do it without them.”
Simmers is still hoping for her second world title in a row after becoming the youngest to claim one last year.
US surfer Caitlin Simmers in action at the Margaret River Pro. (Supplied: World Surf League/Cait Miers)
She knocked off the last-standing West Australian, wildcard Bronte Macaulay, in their semi-final heat earlier in the day.
It was Macaulay’s fourth time making the semi-finals at her home break but she has never made it to finals.
But she came out all smiles, to cheers from local supporters.
Bronte Macaulay says she just wanted to enjoy what could be her last competitive event. (ABC South West WA: Bridget McArthur)
Experience wins out in men’s final
It was the veteran versus the comeback kids in the men’s final, with South Africa’s Smith eventually securing the win.
American surfer Griffin Colapinto charged up the ranks to make both the cut and the Margaret River Pro finals, but Smith’s performance was too strong.
Jordy Smith (pictured) beat US brothers Griffin and Crosby Colapinto back to back to win the men’s final. (Supplied: World Surf League/Beatriz Ryder)
Smith, oldest in the league at 37, has already had one win this year and currently sits at number one, chasing his first world title.
He made the most of the slight swell on offer, less than a week after Main Break offered up some of its biggest waves on record.
At the age of 37, Jordy Smith is the oldest in the league. (Supplied: World Surf League/Beatriz Ryder)
The Margaret River event has served as a crucial mid-year cut point for the tour, after which lower-ranked competitors are relegated back to the qualifying circuit, a format which has divided surf fans.
It was announced earlier this year that the feature would be dropped in 2026, and tour organisers would reintroduce a more traditional cumulative points winner to determine titles for the 2026 season.
The Margaret River event will also be held earlier in the tour, with the season-ending event shifted to Pipeline in Hawaii.
The tour now moves to California where 11-time world champion Kelly Slater will compete as a wildcard ahead of the world title showdown in Fiji in August.
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