Yago Dora and Molly Picklum are the 2025 World Surf League (WSL) 2025 Championship Tour (CT) world champions.

Cloudbreak, Fiji, delivered the stage.

Four-to-six-foot waves rolled across the reef, and by the end of the day, two new names were etched into surfing history.

Australia’s Molly Picklum and Brazil’s Yago Dora both rose to the occasion at the 2025 WSL Finals Fiji, each claiming their first world title in dramatic style.

Picklum Powers Through for Australia

At just 22 years old, Molly Picklum spent most of the season in the yellow jersey, a mark of the tour leader.

With two event wins and five Finals appearances in 2025, she carried top-seed status into Fiji.

Her opponent in the deciding showdown: Olympic gold medalist and 2023 world champion Caroline Marks of the United States.

Marks stormed into the title match after three straight wins, taking down Bettylou Sakura Johnson, reigning champ Caity Simmers, and Gabriela Bryan.

She kept the momentum going against Picklum in their first heat, forcing the match into a best-of-three.

That’s when Picklum flipped the script.

In the second heat, she locked into a long barrel to score an 8.83 and posted a combined 15.83.

In the third, she matched that 8.83 with another powerful ride, then lifted her two-wave total to 16.93 – the highest of the event.

Marks couldn’t catch up.

Picklum secured the crown and became the first Australian woman to win the world title since Stephanie Gilmore in 2022.

“I’m so speechless right now,” Picklum said.

“I really feel like this is the cherry on top of what I’ve done to my career and my personal life, really turning things around. It’s such a trip and something you can never take away from me to be a world champion.”

Her journey hasn’t been a straight shot to the top. She first qualified for the Championship Tour in 2022 but fell off at the mid-season cut.

A year later, she clawed her way back, reaching the Finals and finishing fifth.

In 2024, standout performances at Pipeline and Sunset Beach hinted at her future. This year, she completed the climb.

“There was so much doubt, but I feel like that’s what raises a champion,” Picklum said after her win.

“You have to step up and rise above that. I just kept true to trusting in the unknown, and I’m so, so grateful that it panned out.”

Dora Delivers 7th Title in 11 Seasons for Brazil

Yago Dora’s run to the men’s world title capped off his best season yet.

The 29-year-old goofy-footer took two event wins, wore the leader’s jersey, and reached three Finals to earn his spot in Fiji.

When it mattered most, he didn’t miss.

The title match set him against Griffin Colapinto, the Californian who had been on fire all day with big scores against Italo Ferreira and Jordy Smith.

But Dora didn’t blink.

He opened with a 7.33 on a sharp combination of turns, then backed it up with an 8.33 after three searing carves.

Colapinto searched for the high score he needed but came up empty.

Dora was crowned the 2025 world champion, becoming the fifth Brazilian to win the men’s title in the last decade.

“It’s so crazy that the whole year is decided like that in one heat,” Dora said.

“I’m really glad it’s come my way, and I’m over the moon right now. I’m so happy.”

Dora’s story is one of persistence. Once known mainly for explosive free-surfing clips, he joined the Championship Tour in 2018.

For years, he hovered outside the very top tier, finishing seventh in 2023 and sixth in 2024. This year, everything clicked – strategy, consistency, and timing.

“I started my career on the free-surfing side, but I felt like competition is truly what drove me,” he explained.

“Sometimes it’s harder to make a heat with a smaller score than a massive one, and I feel like I was able to get that this year. To get to where I did and finish it with that performance is so special.”

Surfing’s New Era

For Brazil, Dora’s victory adds to a decade-long run of dominance – seven of the last 11 men’s titles now belong to the nation.

For Australia, Picklum’s win returns the women’s crown Down Under, a powerful moment for the Central Coast surfer who grew up idolizing Gilmore, Layne Beachley, Sally Fitzgibbons, and Tyler Wright.

“It’s such a trip to be a Central Coast kid, growing up looking up to Steph and Layne and Sally and Tyler, and to now be on a list with them, I just feel so honored and grateful,” Picklum said.

2025 WSL Finals Fiji | Results

Men

• TITLE MATCH 1: Yago Dora (BRA) 15.66 DEF. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 12.33
• MATCH 3: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 15.43 DEF. Jordy Smith (RSA) 13.50
• MATCH 2: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 16.33 DEF. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.67
• MATCH 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.33 DEF. Jack Robinson (AUS) 5.83

Women

• TITLE MATCH 3: Molly Picklum (AUS) 16.93 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 6.24
• TITLE MATCH 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) 15.83 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 8.03
• TITLE MATCH 1: Caroline Marks (USA) 12.50 DEF. Molly Picklum (AUS) 10.50
• MATCH 3: Caroline Marks (USA) 13.67 DEF. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 9.47
• MATCH 2: Caroline Marks (USA) 14.60 DEF. Caitlin Simmers (USA) 11.33
• MATCH 1: Caroline Marks (USA) 9.66 DEF. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 5.00