Canadian surfer Erin Brooks finishes 9th at El Salvador event

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 05, 2025 12:09 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Canadian Erin Brooks finished ninth astatine the Surf City El Salvador Pro connected Saturday aft being edged retired by American Bella Kenworthy successful a choky round-of-16 battle.

It was a conflict of teenage rookies connected the World Surf League's elite Championship Tour in La Libertad, El Salvador.

Brooks is 17 portion Kenworthy, a erstwhile elite skateboarder whose begetter is well-known surf lensman Jason Kenworthy, is 18.

It was a back-and-forth heat, with some surfers looking to enactment unneurotic the highest-scoring brace of waves. A 7.00 moved Brooks up with a combined 11.77 people but Kenworthy answered with a 5.83 that, combined with an earlier people of 6.33, enactment her successful the pb astatine 12.16.

Brooks past ran retired of clip to drawback her. Kenworthy moved connected to look American Gabriela Bryan successful quarterfinal action.

The lawsuit is the 4th halt of the play connected the Championship Tour.

Brooks came to El Salvador sixth successful the standings aft finishing 3rd past clip retired astatine the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal successful March, 5th astatine the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro and ninth successful the season-opening Lexus Pipe Pro successful Hawaii.

Brooks became the archetypal Canadian to gain full-time presumption connected the Championship Tour by finishing successful the apical 5 of the second-tier Challenger Series past year. She won successful her lone erstwhile quality connected the Championship Tour arsenic a chaotic card, defeating Olympic metallic medallist Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil past August successful the last of the Fiji Pro.

After El Salvador, the circuit shifts to Australia (for 3 consecutive events), the United States, Brazil, South Africa and Tahiti earlier closing with the WSL Finals successful Fiji from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4.

The play opened with 18 competitors connected the women's broadside — the apical 10 finishers from the 2024 Championship Tour, the apical 5 from the 2024 Challenger Series, 2 WSL play chaotic cards and 1 lawsuit chaotic card. The tract volition beryllium chopped to 12 aft 7 events and past 5 for the season-ending WSL Finals.

The 36-competitor men's tract volition beryllium reduced to 24 astatine the midseason chopped and past 5 up of Fiji.

The winning prize wealth ranges from $80,000 U.S. successful the play opener to $100,000 aft the midseason chopped and $200,000 for the WSL Finals.

Brooks started surfing astatine 9 erstwhile her household moved to Hawaii from Texas. She has Canadian ties done her American-born begetter Jeff, who is simply a dual American-Canadian citizen, and her gramps who was calved and raised successful Montreal

Brooks gained her Canadian citizenship past twelvemonth aft a lengthy ineligible conflict that constricted her Olympic qualifying opportunities to the ISA World Surfing Games past March successful Puerto Rico. Brooks, whose household besides has a location successful Tofino, B.C., fell abbreviated and had to ticker the Olympic surfing contention successful Tahiti from afar.