Brooks, Moniz win Teahupo’o Championship Tour finals
NXTbets Pro | Published On: August 14, 2026
Brooks wins women’s
Erin Brooks won the women’s final at Teahupo’o, and the 19-year-old did it from behind against a big early deficit. Anat Leilor opened with rides of 8.00 and 8.33, but Brooks kept working her way back and closed the final with two barrel exits to secure the victory. The result pushed Brooks up to No. 11 in the rankings and into a top-14 requalification position, a key step in her push to stay locked into elite competition. It also added another strong result to a run that already included wins over Tya Zebrowski, Carissa Moore, Molly Picklum and Isabella Nichols earlier in the event. Brooks left Teahupo’o headed for Fiji, where she has won before, and her form in Tahiti showed the same patience and control that carried her through the bracket. She stayed calm under pressure, handled a deep hole in the final and finished with the cleanest waves when the heat demanded them.
Moniz captures men’s
Seth Moniz won the men’s final in another comeback at Teahupo’o, and the victory gave him his first Championship Tour win. Moniz trailed early before putting together an 8.5 and a 9.07 to beat Griffin and take control of the final. The result lifted Moniz to 19th in the rankings and secured a top-22 requalification spot for 2027, a major payoff for a surfer who has waited for this breakthrough. Moniz said the win also helped erase the sting of an earlier loss to Kelly Slater, a defeat that had lingered as he pushed through the season. He answered that setback with a composed finish in heavy water, and the final score line reflected the strength of his late surge. Moniz did enough to turn a tense heat into a landmark result, and he left Teahupo’o with a win that changes the way his season looks from here. For a surfer chasing a place back in the field, the timing mattered as much as the result itself.
Teahupo’o standings shift
Teahupo’o ended with heavy waves and big crowds, and the day also moved the title races in both divisions. Italo Ferreira retook the overall men’s title-race lead from Leo Fioravanti, while Gabriela Bryan remained No. 1 in the women’s standings. Those changes gave the event weight beyond the two final heats, since the results reached into the season-long picture and tightened the stakes heading to the next stop. Brooks’ win added momentum to her rise and reinforced her place among the top contenders, while Moniz’s breakthrough carried the same kind of season-changing value on the men’s side. The setting matched the stakes. Teahupo’o delivered heavy surf and a large crowd, and both finals turned on surfers who stayed patient, waited for the right waves and finished with control when the opportunity came. Brooks moved through a field that included Zebrowski, Moore, Picklum and Nichols. Moniz answered after falling behind against Griffin. The event closed with two comebacks, two rankings jumps and a title race that changed shape at the top.
