The 2026 Fiji Pro was a tale of self-belief and resilience. Winners Erin Brooks and Cole Houshmand have, respectively, stared down a bounty of challenges this season on the Championship Tour, but digging deep, the pair delivered at Cloudbreak.
Prior to her win in Tahiti last month, Brooks hadn’t finished better than ninth place all year. A string of subpar results had her adrift on tour. Then came Teahupo’o, where her forehand tube riding prowess took center stage. Scoring an impassioned, come-from-behind win, she found her mojo and fired up some much-needed momentum going into the second stop of the South Pacific leg.
Houshmand’s endured a similar season. Besides the stop in New Zealand, where he finished fifth, the San Clemente powerhouse hadn’t made it out of the opening round all year. Picking up a win on the Challenger Series in South Africa this summer, like Brooks, it was the spark he needed to rekindle his self-confidence and get back into a winning state of mind.
It was clear from the start of the Fiji Pro that both surfers were in a good groove. Houshmand’s warmup sessions were both inspired and impressive. Brooks’ statement came in the form of a 10-point ride early in the event. We called it early; both surfers looked like favorites to go the distance.
By the time finals day rolled around, Brooks and Houshmand had worked themselves into a solid groove. Brooks bested five-time world champ Carissa Moore in the semifinals, while on the other side of the draw, Aussie Isabella Nichols beat Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy, but suffered an ankle injury in the process. Unable to surf in the final, Nichols was forced to concede the event win to Brooks. Earning back-to-back wins, the 19-year-old Canadian has vaulted to number eight on the WSL leaderboard, just ahead of Nichols.
“I feel so amazing, I’ve just been having the best time these last two events,” Brooks said. “I can’t believe that I got two back-to-back wins. That just seemed impossible at the beginning of the year, but now I’m just insanely happy. At the same time, I’m honestly so bummed for Isabella [Nichols]. I love her like a sister, and I really wanted to share a Final with her. I hope she rests up really quickly, and I’m praying for her. She’s definitely impressed me in the last two events; she stepped up in such a big way and has been charging, so it would have been such a great Final.”
“I’ve just been having so much fun. That win in Tahiti took so much pressure off and allowed me to go out there and surf the way I wanted to, and in the first heat of this event, I had the best heat of my life, scoring a Perfect 10, and I feel like that’s just grown with me throughout the event,” Brooks continued. “I’ve just been smiling and having fun, and I just love this place. I actually saw Occy. When I got here, he congratulated me on Tahiti and was telling me about the ‘dime-a-double,’ where you win both Fiji and Tahiti back-to-back. It’s been in my head, and the closer I’ve been getting, I’ve been getting so excited, and finally doing it is insane. In the back half of the year, I still need to step up, as I have a lot of last places, but I’m so excited to go to Lowers. I love it there and have a lot of friends and family there, so it’s going to be great.”
Houshmand’s final was a much harder-fought affair. Up against Gabriel Medina, the Brazilian rattled off a 10-point ride, while Houshmand laid down a pair of eights for the edge in the scoreline. Able to hold Medina off in the dying minutes, Houshmand earned the best result of his season. Clawing his way up ten spots on the leaderboard, he’s now sitting at a much more comfortable number 17.
“I’m speechless; I don’t think I could have scripted it any better,” Houshmand said. “To go up against Gabby in the Final and have a battle with him and him get a 10. We’ve got a great friendship, and he’s been my inspiration my whole life, so I’m just speechless, man. I’ve had the craziest year ever. I didn’t know if I was going to requalify, losing the first round of every event and just questioning everything, but it all worked out. I’ve just put my head down and stuck to the plan.”
“It never really goes the way you expect it sometimes,” he continued. “Maybe there is a reason for me to have all of those losses in the first round and for this to happen. It’s been amazing, and it’s been a long year, but I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Getting to the Final was already a win for me; getting that far and sharing it with Gabby was amazing. I want to thank all of the people from Fiji; this place is full of good vibes and good energy, and it’s hard not to love this place.”
Looking forward, both surfers have to love where they are heading into the Lowers Pro. Held in Houshmand’s backyard, backed by all of the positive energy gained from his win at Cloudbreak, that renewed confidence should allow him to really unload on the Lowers left. I think he’s going to put on one hell of a show (think Luke Egan circa 2002). And, as I said before the start of the Fiji Pro, I love his chances of running the table in San Clemente.
And Brooks is much the same. Two event wins in a row have her feeling unstoppable, and while her barrel-riding prowess stole the show in Fiji and Tahiti, it’s her air game that could take her to new heights at the Lowers Pro. Based on what we saw in the Red Bull film “Now Days,” Brooks has the best air game on the women’s tour, and lest you forget, Lowers is as close to a skatepark as there is on tour today. Can she make it a trifecta?
Related: 19-Year-Old Erin Brooks Scores Perfect 10 In Fiji: “Best Heat Of My Life”