ABU DHABI — Canadian teenager Erin Books stands ninth in the World Surf League season standings after losing her quarterfinal to Australian Molly Picklum at the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro.
Picklum made it as far as Sunday's final where she lost to American Caitlin Simmers, the reigning world champion. Brazilian Italo Ferreira won the men's event.
Simmers tops the women's standings, with Picklum second.
The Abu Dhabi competition was the second event on the WSL's elite Championship Tour. Brooks lost to Picklum in the round of 16 at the Lexus Pipe Pro last month on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.
It marked the WSL's first-ever Championship Tour event in the Middle East. Located on Hudayriyat Island, the competition took place in a wave pool that showcased 500-metre-long artificial waves.
The 17-year-old Brooks became the first Canadian to earn full-time status on the Championship Tour by finishing in the top five of the second-tier Challenger Series last year. She won in her only previous appearance on the Championship Tour as a wild card, defeating Olympic silver medallist Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil last August in the final of the Fiji Pro.
Brooks defeated Picklum en route to the Fiji win.
After Abu Dhabi, the tour shifts to Portugal, El Salvador, Australia (for three straight events), the U.S., Brazil, South Africa and Tahiti before closing with the WSL Finals in Fiji from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4.
The season opened with 18 competitors on the women's side — the top 10 finishers from the 2024 Championship Tour, the top five from the 2024 Challenger Series, two WSL season wild cards and one event wild card. The field will be cut to 12 after seven events and then five for the season-ending WSL Finals.
The 36-competitor men's field will be reduced to 24 at the midseason cut and then five ahead of Fiji.
The winning prize money ranges from US$80,000 in the season opener to $100,000 after the midseason cut and $200,000 for the WSL Finals.
Brooks started surfing at nine when her family moved to Hawaii from Texas. She has Canadian ties through her American-born father Jeff, who is a dual American-Canadian citizen, and her grandfather who was born and raised in Montreal.
Brooks gained her Canadian citizenship last year after a lengthy legal battle that limited her Olympic qualifying opportunities to the ISA World Surfing Games in March in Puerto Rico. Brooks, whose family also has a home in Tofino, B.C., fell short and had to watch the Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti from afar.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2025
The Canadian Press
