Women’s Final 5 Decided, Molly Picklum Gets Clutch, & Caroline Marks Enters the Chat

Today started with the final men’s Elimination Round heat (Jake Marshall handed Joel Vaughan an early L), but Day 2 of the 2025 Tahiti Pro was all about the women. The WSL steamrolled through 14 women’s heats on their first day of competition, going from the opening round through the semi-finals. While I understand efficiency is a good thing when running a surf contest, this feels like a missed opportunity by the WSL to give the women a shot at larger surf later in the waiting period. 

The swell is on the decline over the next few days before a major bump on August 13. The whole women's field, not just the finalists, should get a chance to push themselves at larger Teahupo’o. They’ve done it at Pipe, and finishing everything but the final before more swell arrives just feels like a misstep.  

When Tyler Wright lost to an in-form Caity Simmers in the second quarterfinal, the top five women were established. The order was not entirely set then, but it would be by the end of the day: Molly Picklum, Caity Simmers, Gabriela Bryan, Caroline Marks and Bettlyou Sakura Johnson will surf for a world title at Cloudbreak. By getting the No. 1 seed, Molly can lock up her maiden world title if she wins her first heat in Fiji. Wild.

Wild day. Let’s start from the top. The swell had dropped considerably since yesterday’s floggings, but the occasional solid sets were hitting the reef. “The terror level has dropped,” Chris Cote surmised. Things got consequential quickly when three women fighting to lock in a spot for the WSL Finals surfed in back-to-back-to-back ER Heats. The No. 4, 5 and 6 surfers on the rankings, all lined up like dominoes. 

First came Bettylou Sakura Johnson, who started the event in No. 5 and, despite slicing her feet open in the first round, handled her business with several clean tubes against Luana Silva. But Isabella Nichols, coming in at No. 4, had arguably the hardest draw in the comp: reigning champ and local lord Vahine Fierro. 

“A smiling assassin,” Stace Galbraith said of Vahine. Agreed. Funny enough, Vahine got the best wave of the opening round heat against Tyler Wright, but she got it literally one second after the heat ended. She didn’t miss out next time. The Tahitian beamed as she took her shot at the start of the heat, driving and pumping through a long, deep section for an 8.17. Isabella, to her credit, did not waver. She negotiated a sketchy backside drop that set her up for a very nice tube. Not as deep as Vahine, but more critical. She got a 7.9, with two of three judges thinking it was better than Vahine’s. But after several wipeouts and trips around the lagoon, Vahine reminded everyone why she’s on their fantasy team. She found a dreamy 8.5, a spitting double-up so pretty and perfect it could have been on a postcard. 

Bettylou’s win moved her up to No. 4, while Isabella’s loss moved her to the precarious fifth and final spot. Caroline Marks, who came into the event in sixth, knew the opportunity. Beat Lakey Peterson and take Isabella’s spot. But it was a grind fest, even for the Olympic gold medalist. Neither she nor Lakey could put together a serious score. In the end, Lakey needed a 2.67. With 10 seconds left, she got a little pocket ride and fished with a hook. The score came up just short, and Caroline moved into the final five by a wispy 8.67 to 8.5. Nobody moved more on the leaderboard today than Caroline, who went on to beat Betttylou in the quarters with a clutch tube on the inside. Caroline jumped from sixth to fourth and could make real noise in Fiji.

"I feel like in that heat I was just like, 'Oh no pressure, just have fun,'" Caroline said. "But me and Bettylou were laughing before. We're like, we're surfing for priority in Fiji right now, like whoever wins this heat gets priority over there. I felt good, getting barreled is the coolest thing ever. Fiji is just such a great place, and Cloudbreak is one of the best waves in the world. So that adds so much motivation when the Finals are at such a good wave, so we're psyched for sure."

Gabriela made major progress on her backside tube riding in one day. She didn’t look spectacular when she beat 12-year-old local and trials winner Kelia Gallina in the opening round. She told Chris Cote on the boat after the heat that she needed to improve her backhand approach, particularly at Teahupo’o. But then she did just that in her quarterfinal matchup against Erin Brooks. 

Erin was officially out of WSL Finals contention by the quarters, but the rookie was looking so at ease in this heat. It looked like she was dancing at Teahupo’o, stalling and speeding up in smooth fashion. The high note came when she got blown out of a gem for an 8.83. For a while, it looked like Erin would walk to a win, thus guaranteeing Molly Picklum the No. 1 seed for Cloudbreak. But then Gabriela arrived. She fell out of the sky, missed the grab for her rail, found it, then came out of a proper bomb. An 8.87 for Gabriela and a shocker for Erin. The Hawaiian stayed in the hunt for yellow. 

Speaking of Molly, she couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day. She posted the highest Teahupo’o heat total of her career (16.90) and did it with a smile on her face. But she couldn’t have asked for a tougher challenge in the quarters — a final-worth matchup with Vahine. The stakes were enormous. Molly had to win to keep up with Gabriela, who’d already advanced to the semis. If Molly lost, Gabriela could theoretically go on to steal the No. 1 seed in the WSL Finals. 

And holy smokes did Molly have to work for it. She packed at least four waves that would have been major scores that bucked her off in the pit. Just small tallies, seeing if something would stick. Finally, with less than five minutes to do, something did. Needing 7.67, she stroked into the wave of the day, going all-rail on the drop and sticking herself to the foamball. A 9.77 that must have tasted sweet. “World champ shit,” Stace said. It just may be. 

Molly rode that momentum to stop Caroline in the semi-finals and clinched the No. 1 seed for the WSL Finals. Molly will face Caity in what should be a popcorn-worthy final at cooking Teahupo’o. As good as Molly has surfed here so far, you know Caity can push it just as hard. 

“Caity [Simmers] and I always hype each other up, and whenever we come up against each other, it’s a real surf-off,” Molly said. “We always make each other go extra hard, which is fun for us and the fans, and it also just fills my heart. It’s always an honor to verse Caity, and hopefully I can get one up on her. I think leading into this event, the potential World Title started to sink in. It’s funny because when you get really close to achieving your dream, it all gets really scary. But I’m just happy that I dream so big and it makes me scared and makes me focus and it challenges me and all of those beautiful things. I don't think it’s sunk in that it’s so close, and it probably won’t until after the fact. There are four incredible surfers who can come for me, so there’s still a lot of work to get done. I’m just so grateful to be here in Tahiti, the waves and weather are beautiful, and I’d love to win here, so that’s my focus for now.” 

The contest will be off for the weekend. The next call is on Monday. The show goes on.

Women’s Final 5 Decided, Molly Picklum Gets Clutch, & Caroline Marks Enters the Chat first appeared on Surfer on Aug 9, 2025