Canada's Erin Brooks is seen after surfing in Heat 3 of the Quarterfinals at the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal, at Supertubos, Peniche, Portugal, in a Monday, March 17, 2025, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-World Surf League, Manel Geada, *MANDATORY CREDIT*

PENICHE, Portugal - Canadian teenage surfer Erin Brooks upset American Caitlin Simmers, the world No. 1 and defending World Surf League champion, on Monday to advance to the semifinals of MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal.

Brooks, 17, posted a quarterfinal score of 12.67 to defeat the 19-year-old American who scored 12.40. She will face 22-year-old Hawaiian Gabriela Bryan in Tuesday's semifinal.

“I made a lot of mistakes in that heat," Brooks said. "Going up against Caity is always nerve-racking, but we’ve known each other for so long, so it was still a fun heat. When you get a good wave, and you hear the score, you get a bit of confidence … I was building momentum and I’m just really glad I got those waves."

American Caroline Marks, the Paris Olympic champion, takes on Australian Molly Picklum in the other semifinal.

Brooks won her opening heat, outscoring Picklum and Brazil's Luana Silva, before dispatching American Lacey Peterson in the round of 16 to gain the quarterfinal.

Brooks became the first Canadian to earn full-time status on the Championship Tour by finishing in the top five of the second-tier Challenger Series last year. She won in her only previous appearance on the Championship Tour as a wild card, defeating Olympic silver medallist Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil last August in the final of the Fiji Pro.

Brooks defeated Picklum en route to the Fiji win.

After Portugal, the tour shifts to El Salvador, Australia (for three straight events), the United States, Brazil, South Africa and Tahiti before closing with the WSL Finals in Fiji from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4.

The season opened with 18 competitors on the women's side — the top 10 finishers from the 2024 Championship Tour, the top five from the 2024 Challenger Series, two WSL season wild cards and one event wild card. The field will be cut to 12 after seven events and then five for the season-ending WSL Finals.

The 36-competitor men's field will be reduced to 24 at the midseason cut and then five ahead of Fiji.

The winning prize money ranges from $80,000 (all figures in U.S dollars) in the season opener to $100,000 after the midseason cut and $200,000 for the WSL Finals.

Brooks started surfing at nine when her family moved to Hawaii from Texas. She 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

Brooks gained her Canadian citizenship last year after a lengthy legal battle that limited her Olympic qualifying opportunities to the ISA World Surfing Games last March in Puerto Rico. Brooks, whose family also has a home in Tofino, B.C., fell short and had to watch the Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti from afar.

Brooks made the round of 16 in the 2025 season-opening event, the Lexus Pipe Pro in Hawaii, and the quarterfinals at the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro.

Simmers was runner-up in Hawaii and won in Abu Dhabi.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025