Australian surfing star Sally Fitzgibbons has missed out on qualification for the 2026 Championship Tour after a last-minute upset in her Round of 16 heat at the Margaret River Pro on Monday.
Fitzgibbons, 34, needed a win to avoid the mid-season cut for the third consecutive year and remain in contention for the remainder of the season. She held the lead for nearly the entire heat, scoring a 6.83 on her opening wave and backing it up with a 5.00, placing immense pressure on her opponent, Hawaii’s Gabriela Bryan.
With just 90 seconds remaining, Bryan required a near-perfect score of 8.00 to advance. Delivering under pressure, she executed two powerful turns on a clean wave to earn a 9.00—securing her place in the quarter-finals and abruptly ending Fitzgibbons’ campaign.
“I think for the first, like, 98 per cent of that heat it was all going against me,” Bryan told the Australian Associated Press. “I’m like, I just need to do two big turns, and I hit the first one as hard as I could and then I was like, OK, just finish this thing—and it all worked out. So I was so stoked that wave came.”
Fitzgibbons, from Gerroa, lingered in the water after the final buzzer, visibly emotional following the narrow loss. One of the most respected figures in Australian surfing, she has competed in 14 Championship Tour seasons and continues to be a fan favorite.
With her Championship Tour run cut short, Fitzgibbons will now turn her attention to the Challenger Series, where she must compete to earn a spot on the 2026 tour.
Despite the setback, Fitzgibbons’ legacy remains intact, and her competitive spirit shows no signs of waning.