Yolanda Hopkins secured a historic qualification for next year’s Women’s World Tour this Thursday after qualifying for the semifinals of the Saquarema Pro in Brazil. At 27, the Algarve surfer becomes the first Portuguese surfer to qualify for the elite women’s world surfing competition.
After reaching the quarterfinals, Yolanda knew that a victory over Australian Ellie Harrison and a subsequent advance to the semifinals of the Brazilian competition would guarantee her official qualification, which was already well on the way. And the Portuguese surfer used all her experience to win the duel with 10.67 points to her opponent’s 10.07.
As soon as the horn sounded, Yolanda Hopkins was mathematically certain to qualify for the 2026 World Tour. She currently sits second in the Challenger Series rankings, with 29,460 points and less than 4,000 points behind the leader, Frenchwoman Tya Zebrowski. This feat was achieved early, as the Saquarema Pro is only the fifth of seven stages on this circuit, and at a venue where she missed qualifying by just one heat last year.
Now, in the next stage, Yolanda will face Australian Sally Fitzgibbons, currently ranked number three and with nearly two decades of experience on the world circuit. With a victory at the Saquarema Pro, Yolanda Hopkins will overtake Zebrowski at the top of the rankings and be poised to challenge for the 2021 Challenger Series title.
After Hopkins‘ historic achievement for national women’s surfing, Portugal could field even more surfers on the 2026 World Tour. Francisca Veselko is currently ranked 4th in a ranking that qualifies the top seven for next year’s women’s elite. Kika, who was eliminated in Round 2 in Brazil, already knows she won’t drop any positions, currently 4,000 points above the cutoff. Teresa Bonvalot is also in the mix, having fallen from 8th to 11th place and potentially falling to 12th. Even so, the national champion, with 16,125 accumulated points, is just a short distance from the cutoff, currently at 16,410 points, with a potential rise to 16,420 points.
Thus, both Francisca Veselko and Teresa Bonvalot have everything open to try to join Yolanda Hopkins on the 2026 World Tour, at a time when there are two remaining stages of the Challenger Series circuit, both in 2026, the first in the famous Pipeline tubes in Hawaii, and the last in Newcastle, Australia, where the circuit began and with a triumph for Francisca Veselko.
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