Sierra Kerr

Finals Day Highlights From Stab High Japan Presented By Monster Energy

Episode 3 of Poolside hosted by Kona Big Wave

How Was This Not A 10?! — Day One Highlights At Stab High Japan 2025 Presented By Monster Energy

Episode 2 of Poolside hosted by Kona Big Wave

Sudden-death shootouts, the first-ever superwoman, and a mullet-flapping Monster Air frontrunner.

Movie fans, the video’s above.

Readers, click here.

We’ll skip the blow-by-blow, but here’s the skinny:

Mikey Wright, fighting to keep his bloodline alive in the sudden-death round, eyed down the line, blasted over the kink like a maniac, pirouetted gloriously in the air, and landed like a palm sliding into your lap — smooth enough for a 49/50. The missing point came courtesy of Lee Wilson, obviously, but getting the guy to lift a hand and crack a smile is a small paper blessing.

In sudden death surf-off against Shane Borland, Matt Meola, outrageously performed a mid-wave double-grab chop hop followed by a double-grabbed, equally outrageous inverted backside full-rote — and closed with a hip thrust aimed at Lee Wilson, somewhere between satire and seduction.

The Ladybirds launched female progression into the stratosphere. Led by Laihani Zoric and Patti Zhou, they barely missed — their make rate that far eclipsed the men’s, and the pulse for progression hummed louder than Christian Fletcher’s exhaust. Mali Adam came achingly close to landing the first ever superwoman — to our knowledge, anyway. Happy to be corrected.

Just getting warmed up, and somehow the end’s already whispering. Tomorrow’s all that remains, so buckle up. Here’s what’s left:

SEMIFINALS — PRO MENS, BOTTLE ROCKETS, LADYBIRDS
Three Rights, Three Lefts
Best Single Air, Top 4 Advance To Final
Leaderboard Format: Surfers Against Entire Field

FINALS — PRO MENS, PRO WOMENS, BOTTLE ROCKETS, LADYBIRDS
Three Rights, Three Lefts
Best Right + Best Left Count Towards Score
Highest Combined Score Wins

Prize Money

Pros: $20,000 USD
Pro Women: $10,000 USD
Monster Air: $10,000 USD
Ladybirds: $5,000 USD
Bottle Rockets: $5,000 USD

Stab High Japan Warm-Ups With Julian Wilson, Harry Bryant, And More

Introducing Poolside, shot live from the decks of Shizunami Surf Stadium and brought to you by Kona Big Wave.

Watch Stab High, presented by Monster Energy on Stab Premium:
May 24–25 local (Japan) // May 23–24 in the Americas.

Here's all the winners from the 2024 Australia Surfing Awards incorporating the Hall of Fame

Luke Egan’s induction into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame headlined a spectacular celebration of Australian surfing talent at HOTA, Home of the Arts, on the Gold Coast tonight. The Newcastle native and former World Tour surfer was honoured for his remarkable 22-year career on the ASP/World Surf League Championship Tour, which included four event wins and a runner-up finish in the 2000 World Title race. Egan was presented the award by good friend Matt Hoy and joined by fellow legends Joel Parkinson, Mark “Occy” Occhilupo, and Mark Richards for a sit-down interview, where he reflected on his career and expressed gratitude for being recognised alongside his heroes.

The night also celebrated Australia’s elite surfing achievements, with Olympians and World Tour surfers Jack Robinson and Molly Picklum named Male and Female Surfer of the Year, respectively. Dane Henry received the Mick Fanning Rising Star Award, while Sierra Kerr was honoured with the Stephanie Gilmore Rising Star Award. Jocelyn Neumueller and Kai Colless were recognised as the Female and Male Para Surfers of the Year, respectively.

Surfing legend Layne Beachley was honoured with Surfing Australia Life Membership for her extraordinary contributions to the sport. A seven-time World Champion and the only surfer to win six consecutive titles, Beachley’s legacy extends beyond competition. As former Chair of Surfing Australia and a long-time advocate for women’s surfing, she championed pay equity, improved events, and greater opportunities for future generations.

Tasmanian photographer Nick Green captured big wave surfer Laura Enever during “one of the gnarliest wipeouts” at Shipstern Bluff to win Surf Photo of the Year. Soli Baileytook home the Heavy Water Award and, along with Chris Peel, won Surf Clip of the Year. The Surf Film of the Year was awarded to Jay Phillips Isn’t Dead.

Jordie Campbell was awarded the Indigenous Surfing Community Celebration Award. The Greater Good Award went to the Surfrider Foundation, Breakthrough Surf Brand of the Year was Rivvia Projects, and Shaper of the Year went to Darren Handley.

Renowned surf media icon Vaughan Blakey hosted the event, which recognised the outstanding achievements of athletes and contributors across 20 award categories. Held for the first time at the iconic HOTA, Home of the Arts, on the Gold Coast, the awards celebrated not only surfing champions but also individuals excelling in media, business, and innovation, highlighting the depth of talent and dedication within Australian surfing.

The Australian Surfing Awards is proudly supported by ACCIONA, Jim Beam, Tracks, Surfers for Climate, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), Zuum Energy Gum, Hyundai She’s Electric, the Hyundai High-Performance Centre (HPC), and Surfing Australia High-Performance Program.

Vans Pipe Masters 2024: Day 3 Headlines

Day 3 of the #VansPipeMasters welcomed an increased mix of NW-WNW swell with Pipeline's many different faces on offer. We ran through Men's Round 2 in varying conditions before collecting the women to vote on running Women's Round 3. After an 11 to 9 vote, the women took to the water to determine our four women's finalists of 2024.

Subscribe now at: https://www.youtube.com/vans
Connect with Vans:
http://www.vans.com

Vans Pipe Masters 2024: Day 2 Headlines

The #VansPipeMasters kicked back into gear with a long day of surfing today, including round two of the women's division and round one of the men's division. After all was said and done, we saw fifteen heats in total and an exciting day of leaderboard leapfrog. These are the headlines and highlights from the day, hosted by Selema Masekela.

Subscribe now at: https://www.youtube.com/vans

Connect with Vans:
http://www.vans.com

2023 Australia Surfing Awards incorporating the Hall of Fame

Recap Australian surfing's night of nights as we look back at the Australian Surfing Awards Incorporating the Hall of Fame.

This year, the event was held at the iconic Bondi Pavilion on the shore of Sydney's most iconic beach.

Renowned surf media icons Vaughan Blakey and Jess Grimwood hosted the event, which recognised the outstanding achievements of athletes and contributors across 19 award categories...

Highlights from Day 2 of the Corona Fiji Pro presented by Bonsoy 2024

More showstoppers provided an electric day of more heavily implicated showdowns. Cloudbreak pulsed to make the world’s best rise to the occasion and they did just that with technical barrels and powerful performances. Now, the last regular season Finals Day awaits to see who clinches the last spots toward the Lexus WSL Finals.

For More Visit: http://www.worldsurfleague.com/

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO ASK A SURFER!

The 2024 J-Bay Classic was a WSL event like no other. American charger Izzi Gomez and Kiwi freesurfer and funny man Mackenzie Bowden were deployed to South Africa to get up close and personal with the incredible field of talent hanging in the Red Bull Athlete Zone, and pepper everyone from 1999 and 2015 World Champions Mark Occhilupo and Adriano de Souza to superstar freesurfer Mikey February and eventual winner Frederico Morais with all the questions you’ve ever wanted answered, to find out just how much surfers actually know about surfing. The results? A whole lot of laughs.

Whether sharing their thoughts from a hot tub, mid-massage, or fresh out of the water, Steph Gilmore, Sage Erickson, Josh Kerr, Matt Wilkinson, Coco Ho and a fleet of South African talent spill the beans on their greatest surfing icks as well as plenty of crazy hypotheticals and surfing trivia, all sprinkled with a healthy dose of action from the event.

From which animal they think they are to their least favourite surfers and who they’d steal moves off, the difference between ’now’, ’now now’ and ‘just now’, when Kelly Slater is actually ever going to retire, and finding out who exactly J-Bay is named after, Izzi and Mackenzie capture surfing’s finest at their most candid. Don’t just take our word for it though, get comfortable and hit play now to soak up all of the action. Enjoy!