While Yago Dora and Molly Picklum head into the WSL finals in Fiji as top seeds and favourites for their first world titles, plenty of surf fans will be rooting for Jordy Smith as he bids for a fairytale championship after 18 years on tour.

The powerful regular-footer from Durban was touted as surfing's next big thing as a teenager and joined the world tour as a 19-year-old in 2008, finishing second in 2010 and 2016.

A two-time Olympian, Smith enjoyed his best year on tour in 2025, finishing with two event wins and earning the men's second seeding going into the one-day, winner-takes-all finals.

"Something has changed, truly, with Jordy this year," former pro surfer now commentator Mitchell Salazar told the WSL's "The Lineup" podcast. "I'm loving it, I've always been a huge fan of Jordy

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