World Surf League to expand women's elite field

The World Surf League is taking another step towards gender parity by increasing the size of the women's Championship Tour field for 2026.

In a move welcomed by Australian veteran Sally Fitzgibbons, who has long championed expansion, the roster will grow from 18 surfers to 24 for each event.

Under the new format, that will include the top 14 surfers from the CT, the top seven qualifiers from the Challenger Series, two WSL seasonal wildcards, and one event wildcard.

A decision is still to be made on whether the women's mid-season cut will remain at just 10, which it will be reduced to in 2025 after the seventh tour stop in the 11-event schedule.

It's still well short of the men's 36-strong field, but recognises the growing depth in women's surfing and continued improvement in skill level.

The WSL said it would provide "more opportunities for women to compete at the highest level".

It comes after the WSL introduced equal prize money ahead of the 2019 season.

"Today's incredible progression is a tribute to the dedication of every generation, and changes like this continue that work," WSL commissioner Jessi Miley-Dyer said in a statement.

"Visibility matters, and it's exciting to think of the impact the field will have on inspiring future generations who see themselves in these athletes."

A 15-year tour veteran, Fitzgibbons missed the mid-season cut this year for a third straight year because she was ranked 13th when the axe came down.

In 2022 Fitzgibbons was short but received a wildcard for the remaining three events, but has since successfully competed in the Challenger Series to re-qualify for the elite level.

There will at least be two additional qualification places in 2026, with currently only the top five earning a start on the elite tour.

"I couldn't be more proud of where the level of women's surfing is currently at," said Fitzgibbons, a three-time world champion runner-up.

"Growing the tour is the next logical step in that natural progression.

"All over the world, women are stepping it up every time they hit the water, and on tour we're seeing intense heats and fierce rivalries.

"It's what everyone wants to see. I'm so stoked that it's happening."

Fitzgibbons recently told Surfer magazine there was a glut of talent and the smaller CT field made women appear as a "side piece" to the men's competition.

"It's a big logjam here on this (Challenger) series, there could be a winner of one of the six Challenger events, and they could still not qualify because the five spots is just so intense," she said.

"Let's get more women on tour and then when you're watching the product you can just have that even spread of days that you're watching men and women, instead of maybe one day of women and three days of men's surfing.

"It just sort of evens out the ledger a little bit and it looks like less of a side piece."

The 2025 CT kicks off on January 27 at the Banzai Pipeline on Oahu's North Shore.