Snapper Rocks returns to the WSL Championship Tour after a five-year absence, following last year’s staging at Burleigh Heads. Organizers said sand flushed from the Tweed River mouth groomed Snapper Rocks’ bank, producing solid head-high surf with long grinding walls, throaty tubes and big-air sections. Joel Parkinson called the early forecast a “barrel fest,” raising expectations for high-performance heats.

The Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro presented by GWM, Stop No. 3 on the WSL Championship Tour, will run May 1–11 with competition at Snapper Rocks. Organizers scheduled first call for Friday, May 1 at 7:30 a.m. AEST, with a potential 8:00 a.m. AEST start, and they expect to run a full day of competition on opening day. The world’s top surfers have arrived on the Gold Coast; Bonsoy is the title partner and GWM is the presenting sponsor.

Several headline matchups and ranking storylines add intrigue. Eight-time world champion and six-time Snapper winner Steph Gilmore is scheduled to face Erin Brooks, who captured the 2024 Challenger Series event at Snapper Rocks with a perfect 10; Gilmore sits last on the women’s Championship Tour after two losses. Gabriel Medina reclaimed the tour lead after finishing third at Bells Beach and second at Margaret River, is pre-seeded into round two and will meet the winner of Ramzi Boukhiam versus Morgan Cibilic. Kauli Vaast has lost both of his heats this season by less than a point, and Gabriela Bryan is tied with Lakey Peterson atop the rankings and could draw Sally Fitzgibbons or Bella Kenworthy as an opponent.

George Pittar’s breakout win at the Margaret River Pro reshaped the early World Surf League standings. The 23-year-old captured his first Championship Tour victory at Main Break in clean 3 to 4 foot surf, posting the event’s highest single-wave score, a near-perfect 9.00, on the way to a final-round win over three-time champion Gabriel Medina. Pittar said the victory was for his supporters and friends. The result moved him to World No. 2 and lifted Medina to World No. 1, leaving fewer than 1,000 points separating Medina, Pittar and season-opener winner Miguel Pupo in the men’s title race.

Pittar’s run came through an elite men’s field that included Filipe Toledo, reigning world champion Yago Dora and Italo Ferreira, and capped a steep rise for the 23-year-old, who had missed the mid-season cut at Margaret River the previous year. He finished nearly three points ahead of Medina after capitalizing on a Medina priority error. His triumph marked the first time in more than a decade that a male surfer from Sydney’s Northern Beaches won a CT event and entered the top three in the world rankings. Brazilians supplied three semifinalists at Margaret River, matching the nationality spread from the season-opening event won by Miguel Pupo.

In the women’s draw, 31-year-old Lakey Peterson claimed her seventh CT victory and her second Margaret River title. Peterson advanced to the final by dispatching Erin Brooks, Caroline Marks and Sawyer Lindblad, then posted a 6.40 in the final to overtake Luana Silva, who needed a 6.01. Peterson’s result left her level with Gabriela Bryan in the women’s Treble standings. The tour now heads to the Gold Coast for the next stop on the Championship Tour.

A new video edit titled “Fail to Fiji” chronicles Jacob Willcox’s mental recovery after injury, competitive setbacks and narrowly missing requalification for the World Surf League Championship Tour. Filmmaker Chipo framed the six-month edit around the mental toll of Willcox’s injury and the Newcastle loss, following the Western Australian as he chased swells, tried to rediscover his “why” and ultimately traveled to Fiji to reset and reflect.

Willcox was relegated from the Championship Tour in 2024 and launched a bid to requalify for the 2026 CT. He began the campaign by winning the season’s first Challenger Series event and received a wildcard into the Margaret River Pro, where he beat fellow Australian Oscar Berry in Round One before drawing world champion Yago Dora. Judges did not uphold Dora’s interference claim in that heat, which led to heated words in the water and an alleged on-land confrontation. An injury at the US Open sidelined Willcox for several events and he later suffered an ankle tweak that required rehabilitation. After his promising start his form dipped, producing results of 9th, 25th, 49th, 33rd and 13th at subsequent events. He entered the tour’s final stop at Newcastle sitting 10th in the rankings, finished 49th there and dropped to 12th, missing the top-10 cutoff for automatic promotion back to the CT. The edit and reporting say the injury and a missed heat win in Newcastle cost him requalification.

Willcox said he struggled with “head noise” on the trip home. He chased a Pacific swell to Fiji, linked up with former CT surfer Wade Carmichael and surfed Cloudbreak. He said time in the ocean brought him peace and perspective, and the final footage of the edit is intended to remind viewers why he believes he belongs on the Championship Tour. Willcox intends to return to the Challenger Series for another qualification attempt this year.

Organizers at the Margaret River Pro in Margaret River, Western Australia, said a solid swell filled Main Break, producing overhead to head-high, six- to eight-foot surf that enabled A-class power surfing. Judges rewarded aggressive approaches throughout the day, and photographers captured a pumping first day as athletes pushed for high-performance turns and committed maneuvers.

Officials ran 28 heats on day one: eight Women’s Round 1 heats, four Men’s Round 1 heats and 16 heats to finish Men’s Round 2. First call was set for 6:50 a.m. AWST Thursday, with a possible 7:05 a.m. start; the event runs through April 26.

The world’s best surfers have arrived for Stop No. 2 on the Championship Tour and as part of the GWM Aussie Treble, an early-season indicator of form. Kanoa Igarashi called the six- to eight-foot waves “so rippable,” likening Margarets at that size to a “big XL version of Lowers,” and said he struggled early but found his rhythm after the first 20 minutes. Organizers said coverage and heat running will depend on how the swell and local conditions evolve, with fans and media poised to follow a concentrated period of high-performance surfing over the coming days.

A controversial non-interference ruling at the World Surf League stop in Margaret River set off a heated dispute during Heat 9 of Men’s Round 2. Reigning world champion Yago pulled back as local wildcard Jacob Wilcox appeared beneath him, and both surfers believed interference had occurred. Two of five judges signaled interference but the majority did not, and officials ruled no interference. About ten minutes later Wilcox caught a wave that effectively turned the heat in his favor, and the day, the league’s longest on record at 28 heats, was overshadowed by the contested call.

Tempers flared in the water and continued up the stairs, prompting a locker-room security call. The dispute spilled into the car park, where Wilcox, Yago’s coach, former boxer Danny Green, WSL security and others confronted one another and the situation nearly became a physical brawl. A reporter said they were told to “delete footage.” WSL security eventually calmed the scene and both parties left separately. There were no reported physical blows.

The episode cast a spotlight on officiating decisions and the potential for off-field incidents to follow contentious in-competition rulings at the Margaret River stop.

Eight Australians will compete on this year’s men’s World Surf League Championship Tour after five — George Pittar, Oscar Berry, Morgan Cibilic, Callum Robson and Liam O’Brien — secured qualification at the final Challenger Series event at Merewether Beach in Newcastle. For most it marks a return to the CT, with Oscar Berry’s finish described as a breakthrough; Levi Slawson and Dimitri Poulos also pushed close to qualification at Newcastle.

Australia has not produced a men’s world champion since Mick Fanning in 2013, and Brazilian surfers largely dominated men’s world surfing over the past decade, with Hawaiian John John Florence a notable exception. Organizers say the expanded Australian contingent brings proven firepower to the Tour even if not every qualifier is viewed as an outright title favorite, and combined with a revived full-year points system the influx of qualifiers could make the title race more open and increase expectations for an Australian resurgence. Liam O’Brien singled out Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing as the Australians most likely to end the title drought under the revived system.

Liam O’Brien became the fifth Australian man to qualify through this season’s Challenger Series after a shaky Round of 64 heat that left him nervously awaiting his fate. He is preparing for his fifth full CT season and said he does not set “massive goals,” remaining unsure exactly what to expect from the upcoming year. O’Brien also released a 10-minute surf edit titled “Amalgam” that stitches together clips from South America, heavy slabs in Western Australia, footage from Cyclone Alfred and a solo run at XL Burleigh, spotlighting his precise forehand rail work and making a case that he can contend for and win CT events.