17-Year-Old Canadian Wildcard Erin Brooks Earns Historic Win at 2024 Fiji Pro
In a moment that may come to define the generational shift that's currently underway on the women's WSL Championship Tour, 17-year-old Erin Brooks just won the 2024 Fiji Pro. Facing tour veteran and Olympic silver medalist Tatiana Weston-Webb in the final, Brooks was able to dig deep, put a pair of 7-point scores on the board to earn not only her first Championship Tour victory, but the first-ever tour win for a surfer from Canada.
"I was kind of stressing out there because I know how good of a surfer Tati is," Brooks explained from the channel afterwards, draped in a Canadian flag. "This definitely gives me a lot of confidence. I'm just so thankful that I was able to do this competition."
"As a wildcard I've just been having so much fun. Everyone on tour is focusing on their Final Five spots, I just wanted to surf and get good waves," she continued.
Brooks' road to the final was riddled with talent as she took out world number one Caity Simmers in the quarterfinals, followed by world number four Molly Picklum in the semis.
Currently rated number four on the WSL Challenger Series, with two events to go in the season, she's on a strong trajectory to qualify for the Championship Tour in 2025. There are still two events remaining in the season, so there's work to be done, but building off the momentum of her monumental win in Fiji, Brooks will go into the business end of the Challenger Series with a head full of steam.
Whatever happens the rest of the year, it's clear, Brooks is a key player in the new vanguard of young women storming the ranks of professional surfing. The future is most definitely at hand and it's amazing!
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