Brazilian surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb is set to return to the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour as an event wildcard at the upcoming VIVO Rio Pro, the ninth stop of the 2025 season.
The WSL announced on Tuesday that four wildcard surfers will join the competition, which begins June 21 in Brazil. Weston-Webb, 29, had stepped away from the Tour earlier this year to focus on her mental health, a decision she made public in March.
“Talking about mental health is something I believe is important to all of us,” she said in a statement shared by the WSL at the time. “Showing vulnerability does not make us weaker; on the contrary, it makes us more human and connected… This break is not an end, but a new beginning.”
Now, just three months later, Weston-Webb is preparing to rejoin elite competition. She will be joined in the wildcard lineup by fellow Brazilian Gabriel Klaussner, as well as Arena Rodriguez and Peterson Crisanto—two of the top-ranked Latin American surfers in the Challenger Series.
According to the WSL, wildcards are selected not only for their competitive talent but also for their potential to disrupt the top rankings. “A wildcard’s goal is to win heats and disrupt the top power brokers on Tour,” the league stated on its official website.
The VIVO Rio Pro runs through June 29 and serves as a critical moment in the season before the Tour moves to the J-Bay Open in South Africa in July.
Fans can watch the competition live on the official WSL YouTube channel.
