Professional surfing’s winner-takes-all, one-day finals event will shift from its often criticised location in California to Fiji’s Cloudbreak, one of the most iconic and, potentially, heaviest waves in the world.

The WSL has announced that the 2025 finals will move from Lower Trestles in San Clemente to Fiji’s most famous break, giving barrel-riding Australian contenders – including Jack Robinson and Molly Picklum – a golden chance to claim a maiden world title.

Since 2021, winners of the Championship Tour have been crowned after prevailing in the “Final Five” event, where the season’s fifth-placed finisher takes on fourth, with the winner advancing to a heat against the season’s third-ranked surfer and so on.

The format gives a big advantage to both the No.1-ranked surfer – who is one 40-minute heat away from a championship title – and whoever surfs particularly well in the conditions of the day.

Lower Trestles is regarded as a high-performance wave, with less intense waves that favour small-wave and aerial specialists.

Brazil’s Filipe Toledo is almost unbeatable in such conditions and has won the past two men’s competitions at Trestles, while Carissa Moore (Hawaii), Steph Gilmore (Australia) and Caroline Marks (USA) have prevailed as women’s champions.

Fiji’s Cloudbreak is as far removed from Trestles’ high-performance environment as it gets.

The fast-breaking left-hand barrel puts most regular-footed surfers on their less-preferred backhand side at serious speed over shallow reef, and is regarded as a wave of consequence.