As expected, the second day of competition at the Fiji Surf Pro brought the biggest waves of the event so far. The swell increased by 20 per cent overnight, heavy sets detonated on the reef and made the Judge Tower vibrate. In addition, a constant 20 knots of cross-offshore wind blew across the line-up at the perfect angle.
At the end of the day, the women's winner had been decided, four men had qualified directly for the semi-finals, the first athletes were eliminated in the Redemption Rounds - and one of the favourites for the title suffered a serious injury.
Seman dominates with second race win
Jane Seman from Australia already won the Fiji Surf Pro 2026 before the final heat. The Severne rider from Margaret River took the win after her yesterday's victory with 16.70 points - the highest heat score of the entire event - also won the second run. In the even fiercer conditions of the second day, she came out on top with 9.87 points. The decision was based on the tactically clever choice of waves in a heat in which the conditions demanded everything. As the placings from all three heats count in the women's event, Seman can no longer be caught with two wins. "The waves were just incredible. It was a rush to surf waves that size and to do it in a competition was a dream," says Seman.
Behind Seman, an exciting duel is developing for the podium places. Sarah Kenyon found her form on the second day and secured second place in her heat with 8.27 points. Spain's Maria Andrés finished third with 6.37 points - a reversal of the results from the first run. Both now have one second and one third place to their name. The third and final heat on tomorrow's Finals Day will decide who takes silver and who bronze. The longer heat times allowed the riders to learn more about the waves during the heats and continuously improve. Seman emphasised that she had tried to push herself with every wave and that watching the men had inspired her to risk even more next time.
Roediger dominates with highest score of the day
The men completed the Round 4 seeding heats, in which the Challenger qualifiers met the main draw. The established names prevailed in the biggest waves of the event so far. The four heat winners qualified directly for the semi-finals. Bernd Roediger delivered the most complete heat of the men's competition. He scored 16.90 points for uncompromising rides in the biggest sets. Behind him, Takuma Sugi with 12.40 points and Camille Juban with 12.14 points battled it out for the other places. Logan Haggerstrom, surprise rider of the first day, failed to score any points - a brutal reminder of how merciless Cloudbreak can be. Heat 2 went to Jaeger Stone, whose famously powerful power surfing earned him 15.23 points.
Behind him was Robby Swift with 13.33 points and some of the most stylish rides of the day. Goya newcomer Julian Salmonn scored 12.07 points and Duncan Osborn 9.54 points. Heat 3 brought the highest score of the men's field: Antoine Martin rode the most radical lines on the wave at the most critical points and scored 16.96 points - it seemed as if he had no interest in a long way through the laps. Russell Faurot secured second place with 11.56 points ahead of Takara Ishii with 10.80 points and Finn Mellon with 9.80 points. Heat 4 was the tightest of the round: defending champion Baptiste Cloarec came out on top with 15.53 points against Morgan Noireaux, who was less than four tenths behind with 15.16 points.
Heavy fall overshadows Stone's success
Federico Morisio scored 12.87 points and third place, while Challenger qualifier Michael Westra scored 8.77 points and was unable to repeat his heroics of the opening day. Stone's heat victory came at a high price, however. The Australian suffered a severe wipeout and had to be rescued by the water rescue team on a jet ski. He was immediately taken to the tower, where the event doctor examined him. The diagnosis was a suspected broken foot. Stone was taken by speedboat to the mainland where an ambulance was waiting to take him to the Medical Centre. He is awaiting scans to assess the damage. However, the injury makes it unlikely Stone will be able to feature in the final - a tough blow for one of the top favourites who had returned to international competition after retiring from the full-time tour in 2019. His semi-final place will be held pending medical clearance. Despite the injury, Stone said: "I think I had the best wave of my life."
I think I had the best wave of my life." (Jaeger Stone)
Redemption rounds bring first cancellations
For everyone else, the path to the final leads through the Redemption Rounds. The competition day ended with the complete Round 5 Redemption and the first eliminations of the main event. In Redemption Heat 1, Camille Juban made no mistakes in his second chance and controlled the heat from the start with 13.40 points ahead of Julian Salmonn with 11.60 points - both are still in the running. Duncan Osborn fought to the end in his heat and earned a respectable 9.90 points, but Takara Ishii mastered the challenge best with 13.97 points and won the heat. Finn Mellon snatched the second qualification place with 11.60 points.
Federico Morisio missed out on a place in the next round by just three tenths with 11.30 points. Michael Westra, the Challenger qualifier whose 13.47 points stood out on the first day, did not find a good wave and was eliminated together with Morisio. The four Redemption survivors - Juban, Salmonn, Ishii and Mellon - will advance to Round 6 tomorrow, where they will face the Round 4 runners-up. Round 6 Redemption Heat 1 features Takuma Sugi, Robby Swift, Camille Juban and Finn Mellon. Round 6 Redemption Heat 2 sees Morgan Noireaux, Russell Faurot, Takara Ishii and Julian Salmonn. The top seeds from Round 6 complete the semi-final draw - Heat 1 alongside Roediger and Stone, Heat 2 alongside Martin and Cloarec.
Finals Day decides all titles
Tomorrow brings the decisions at the Fiji Surf Pro. The men start with the two Round 6 Redemption Heats, the winners of which will complete the semi-final line-ups alongside Roediger, Stone, Martin and Cloarec, before the semi-finals and final crown a men's champion. The women take to the water for their third and deciding heat, with silver and bronze still to be decided between Andrés and Kenyon. The swell is expected to continue and provide epic conditions once again. The competition starts at 12am Fiji time, which is 2am in Central Europe. All heats will again be broadcast on the WWT YouTube channel!
All heats and results at worldwindsurftour.com
