Teahupo’o promised chaos and delivered on every count. The Outerknown Tahiti Pro served up upsets, injuries, a 14-year-old slaying world champions, Kelly Slater vs Jack Robinson, and two of the most emotional wins you’ll ever see. Where do you even start.
Men’s: Moniz’s Moment
Seth Moniz’s shining moment finally arrived in defining fashion at the Outerknown Tahiti Pro. The Hawaiian veteran has been a tour mainstay for years without a CT win to his name — the kind of surfer everyone respects but nobody puts on their fantasy team. A battle of brothers at heart unfolded between 2025 Tahiti Pro finalist Griffin Colapinto and second-career CT finalist Seth Moniz in the final. Moniz held his nerve, surfed the wave of his life, and walked away with the title he’s been chasing his whole career. Couldn’t happen to a better bloke.
The road to the final was paved with chaos. Ramzi Boukhiam — Morocco’s first-ever CT qualifier — posted a 9.57 single wave score, the highest of the day, for a deep barrel that emerged from the spit to record the highest heat total of his career, an excellent 17.74. He made the semis and was absolutely the story of the event. Jack Robinson posted a 9.17 in a defining showdown with 11-time world champion Kelly Slater — the defending Tahiti champion against the GOAT. Robinson won but couldn’t go all the way.
Women’s: Brooks Does the Unbelievable
In a heat of the year frontrunner and best women’s final ever contender, Erin Brooks and 2026 CT Rookie Anat Lelior went lights out in the final. Lelior’s fearless charging earned her a 16.33 and had Brooks in a combination situation — needing two scores to win. Most surfers would crumble. Brooks charged back in iconic fashion to post an excellent 8.27 and then found a miraculous Teahupo’o pit to post an 8.93 and overtake Lelior heading into the final minutes. Extraordinary stuff.
The women’s draw had its own chaos throughout. 14-year-old wildcard Kelia Gallina — the Tahiti Pro Trials winner — beat a two-time world champion in Round 1, surfing her home wave with zero fear and maximum skill. The future is here and she is 14 years old. A note too on Caitlin Simmers — she suffered an injury midway through a heat that cut her event short. Thankfully she’s ok, but it was a scary moment and her fantasy managers took an unavoidable hit.
Fantasy Takeaways
Boukhiam in Tier C was one of the sneakier picks of the event — if you took that dart you’re extremely pleased with yourself right now. Moniz in Tier C was the logical pick nobody made. Kelly Slater going out to Robinson in Round 3 hurt anyone who loaded him up as their power surfer — the GOAT gave it his all but the legs just weren’t there over a full event. Vahine Fierro going out in Round 1 to Isabella Nichols was the women’s shocker — our Tier C lock didn’t make it past the first heat.
Next stop: Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak, Aug 25–Sep 4. Heavy, powerful, and a completely different test. Fantasy preview coming this week. 🤙