Canada’s Erin Brooks captures second straight WCL Championship Tour victory

CLOUDBREAK, FIJI – Surfing in Fiji certainly agrees with Canada’s Erin Brooks.

Brooks, 19, captured the Fiji Pro title Wednesday for her second straight World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour victory. She was crowned the winner when Australian Isabella Nichols was forced to withdraw from the final due to an ankle ailment.

Nichols suffered the injury during her semifinal win over Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy.

“I feel so amazing, I’ve just been having the best time these last two events,” Brooks said. “I can’t believe that I got two back-to-back at the start of this year that just seemed impossible in the beginning of the year, but now I’m just insanely happy.

“At the same time, I’m honestly so bummed for Isabella (Nichols). I love her like a sister, and I really wanted to share a Final with her. I hope she rests up really quickly, and I’m praying for her. She’s definitely impressed me in the last two events; she stepped up in such a big way and has been charging, so it would have been such a great final.”

Brooks earned the win where she made history two years ago.

She came to Fiji in 2024 as a wild-card entry but went on to secure her first Tour victory, defeating Olympic silver medallist Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil in the final. That also made Brooks the first Canadian surfer to claim a CT event.

Last month, Brooks won the Tahiti Pro competition at Teahupo’o, a village on the southeastern coast of the island. She came from behind in the final versus Israel’s Anat Lelior to become the youngest surfer to win that competition.

With consecutive victories, Brooks has moved up from 19th to eighth spot in the world women’s rankings.

“Erin’s back-to-back victories in Tahiti and Fiji are an incredible achievement for Canadian surfing,” said Lionel F. Conacher, the director-chairman of Surf Canada. “To see a Canadian athlete competing — and winning — against Olympic gold medallists and world champions at this level speaks to both Erin’s extraordinary talent and the continued growth of our sport in Canada.

“We are extremely proud of what Erin continues to accomplish on the world stage.”

Born in Texas and raised in Hawaii, Brooks 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. After her application for Canadian citizenship was initially rejected, Brooks ultimately gained her Canadian citizenship in 2024.

But Brooks’s citizenship battle limited her Olympic qualifying opportunities to the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico. She fell short and had to watch the Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti from afar.

Brooks began the Fiji Pro competition with a perfect 10-point ride in her opening-round matchup with Australia’s Sophie McCulloch, finishing with an 18.00 heat total. Brooks became just the third women to earn a perfect score in Fiji, joining Australian Laura Enever and five-time world champion Carissa Moore of the United States.

In the second round, Brooks defeated American Caroline Marks with a 10.83 heat total. Marks, the reigning Olympic gold medallist and a former WSL world champion, had a 6.00 total.

Brooks advanced through the quarterfinals before defeating Moore in the semifinals to advance to the final.

With two wins under her belt, Brooks heads to the next WSL stop with plenty of confidence. The ninth of 13 events on the ’26 schedule is the Lexus Trestles Pro slated for San Clemente, Calif., from Sept. 11-20.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2026.

Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version had “Brooks” misspelled in the first paragraph.