Portuguese Francisca Veselko placed seventh in the Pipe Challenger, accessing the main circuit of the World Surfing League (WSL) in Hawaii, getting closer to qualifying for the elite, after Yolanda Hopkins had already secured a place.
‘Kika’ was the only Portuguese athlete to overcome the round of 32, with Olympians Yolanda Hopkins and Teresa Bonvalot falling along the way, and also passed the quarter-finals, only giving up in the semi-finals, with a score of 4.07 points (out of 20 possible) in the two best waves (2.07 and 2.00).
With the 4,545 points collected, Francisca Veselko consolidated fourth place in the Challenger Series (CS) circuit ranking, with 24,510 points, and is one ‘step’ away from mathematically guaranteeing entry to the 2026 Championship Tour (CT), which starts in April.
For her part, Yolanda Hopkins, despite her early elimination in the mythical Pipeline wave, maintains the lead in the ranking with 33,375 points, the same as the young French prodigy Tya Zebrowski, who was also qualified for the world elite before the start of the championship in Hawaii.
Also guaranteed to move up the division was the experienced Australian Sally Fitzgibbons (26,410 points), a former world leader, who is just above ‘Kika’, in a season in which the CS offer seven places for the CT in the women’s table.
Teresa Bonvalot, despite having fallen from 12th to 13th in the ranking, has 16,325 points, being just 2,060 points away from the cut for the top 7, and still has her chances of qualifying for the elite alive, if she achieves a strong result in the final stage, in Newcastle, Australia (between March 9th and 15th).
For now, the Spanish Nadia Erostarbe (21,665), the North American Alyssa Spencer (19,250) and the also Spanish Annette Etxabarri (18,385) occupy the last positions that give access to the CT.
On the men’s side, Portugal only had Afonso Antunes in the Pipe Challenger, as Frederico Morais (former world leader) is recovering from surgery on his right ankle, and the only Portuguese representative was eliminated in the second round, occupying 72nd place in the ranking, with 2,500 points, 1,250 points behind Frederico Morais, who is 65th.
Both are already out of the men’s qualification count, with Hawaiian Eli Hanneman being the only one already guaranteed in the CT (being a return, as he already participated in 2024).
Of the 10 places for the men’s team, nine remain open, so all decisions will be made for the seventh and final CS race, in Australia, to be held between March 9th and 15th.
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