WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW COMING INTO THE FINAL CHALLENGER SERIES

Wow what a whirlwind of events the last couple months have been. May we just say we think the challenger series has been nothing but eventful and mesmerising. The contests and more importantly the competitors are the talk of the surfing world right now. Female surfing is on the rise and we are all stoked here to be a part of it. Huge congratulations to all the phenomenal women who have been competing in these events and making the world of female surfing proud. 

So let’s do a quick recap. We started off with a bang with the first challenger series event at the famous Huntington beach. This event was exciting to watch, no one really knew what to expect as it was the first ever challenger series event, let alone the first international line up of surfers that we’ve seen in a while. We saw some unexpected big names drop out in the first round and some dark horses blew us away. It all came down to the final, Caity Simmers vs Gabriela Bryan, with caity taking the win over Gabi. This result put both the girls in a pretty strong rank going into the second stop of the leg at Portugal. 

Portugal was quite the event. From tiny waves to sizey waves, Portugal really put the surfers quiver, wetsuits and ability to the test. The long running right point allowed us to witness some pretty solid rail carves and gouges and not to forget the scary event where Teresa Bonvelot ended up on the rocks in a pretty dangerous situation. Luckily she found her way to safety and was straight back out in the line up. It all came down to finals day with pretty big lines rolling through the infamous right hand point break. We had gabriela blow us away with her back to back finals appearance however Luana Silva took the win with her last minute 8.23 securing her first place. 

After this event it meant that Gabriela was sitting pretty in the number one seed going into the 3rd stop of the challenger series. This led us to France, much like Portugal France tested all of the athletes in wave size and ability to manage some pretty hectic backwash and shore lines. Nonetheless, we still saw some pretty phenomenal surfing go down. With a stacked draw all the way through the event it came down to the final heat against Brisa Hennessy and India Robinson. It was a close heat however, Brisa’s powerful surfing got her the edge over India to solidify her win and her spot on the 2022 Championship tour. 

At this point of the challenger series we have two surfers who have already secured their spot for the 2022 Championship tour season, Brisa Hennessy and Gabriela Byran. Two very deserving females who we cannot wait to see take on the world’s best next year. However, as it stands there are still 4 spots that are yet to be filled by some pretty amazing surfers. There are so many females who are in contention for these final positions and it all comes down to the final event in Hawaii. Caitlin Simmers has a pretty strong hold in the remaining 4 spots so our thoughts are that there really are 3 spots up for grabs but don’t take that a definite. We are counting down the days until we can watch these girls perform and fight for one of these final 4 spots, to allow themselves to make it on to the ever dreamed of… Championship tour. Let us know who your picks are for the final four spots to make the tour. 

Goodluck to all the women out there and we cannot wait to see the best women win.