Australia Crowned Team World Champion at the 2025 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games

Today, Australia was crowned Team World Champion at the 2025 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games (WSG). The ninth straight day of pumping waves in Surf City El Salvador saw La Bocana offering up powerful four-to-six-foot peaks to decide the medalists. 

Dane Henry (AUS) and Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri (ESP) won the men’s and women’s individual gold medals, respectively. Gonzalez-Etxabarri’s victory marked the first-ever WSG gold for Spain.

Henry’s win, alongside bronze medals for Morgan Cibilic (AUS) and Sally Fitzgibbons(AUS), secured the team victory for Australia. The medalists were complemented by Ellie Harrison (AUS) in fifth, Milla Brown (AUS) in 11th before her withdrawal due to injury, and Callum Robson (AUS) in 19th.

Already the most successful nation in WSG history, Australia broke a 14-year drought to win their sixth team gold medal — their 16th WSG team medal overall. Having claimed four of their six team silver medals in the intervening years, the team was thrilled to once again stand atop the podium. As the reigning Team World Junior Champion, today’s win backs up their 2024 junior victory, also won in Surf City El Salvador.

Dane Henry (AUS) became the first man in the modern era to win the WSG as the reigning ISA World Junior Champion. The 19-year-old follows in the footsteps of Tom Curren(USA), who won the 1982 WSG while still holding the junior crown from 1980. Only two other men — Gabriel Medina (BRA) and Jordy Smith (RSA) — have won gold medals at both the World Junior Surfing Championship (WJSC) and the WSG.

“That is a crazy club to be a part of,” Henry said. “The whole time I had belief in myself that I could do it. My surfing’s been feeling spot on. I really wanted to really shine in the Final and I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to do that. Competing against guys like Kauli Vaast, Morgan [Cibilic] and Douglas [Silva], you’ve got to pull out the best. I have a really special connection with this place and this competition now. I felt really in my element, which definitely pushed me through and helped me get the win.”

Utilizing a similar formula to his 2024 WJSC victory at the same location, Henry attacked the La Bocana rights, opening the men’s Final with a lofty full rotation that earned an 8.67. He soon added exceptional variety on a long right for a 9.50, building a massive 18.17 heat total that left Morgan Cibilic (AUS) and Douglas Silva (BRA) needing a two-wave combination. Four further excellent scores were posted over the 30-minute match, three of them from Kauli Vaast (FRA), the only surfer able to challenge Henry’s lead with a single wave. The Olympic Champion’s vertical backhand attack came closest to Henry’s numbers, but the Australian stayed out of reach, even as Vaast landed a backhand full rotation to close the Final.

Vaast’s silver medal continues his trajectory of improving his placing with every WSG entered, having won the bronze in 2024 and placed 5th in 2023. Cibilic and Silva both take home their first ISA medals, the bronze and copper, respectively.

Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri (ESP) claimed the biggest win of her career and made history for Spain. The 20-year-old, who qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by finishing 15th in her WSG debut last year, bettered the historic copper medal earned in 2024 by her teammate and fellow Olympian Nadia Erostarbe (ESP). Competing alongside her sister, Annette Gonzalez-Etxabarri (ESP), Janire’s victory also helped Spain equal their best-ever team result, matching the bronze medal secured in 2017.

“It’s like I’m sleeping in a dream and all of this is not real,” Gonzalez-Etxabarri said. “I just have no words. I’m super happy and I don’t know what to say. I was paddling out super happy and just grateful to be in the Final and to be able to maybe get the gold. I made it, but I just wanted to enjoy my heat and show my surfing. I wasn’t thinking about the gold, I was thinking about wave-by-wave and just showing my surfing. I’m super happy.”

While the men’s Final played out almost entirely on the right, the women’s was flipped, with the majority of the action centered on the left. The only goofyfooter of the six women to compete on Finals Day, Gonzalez-Etxabarri opened with an aggressive two-turn combo on her forehand to collect a 7.50. Finding a similar second ride in quick succession, Gonzalez-Extabarri added a 7.07 to her scoreline for a 14.57 heat total. Those two waves held as the highest numbers of the heat despite multiple impressive attempts from Arena Rodriguez (PER) and Olympians Yolanda Hopkins (POR) and Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS). Hopkins came very close to posting a serious number after a huge opening turn, but fell on the second attack, while Fitzgibbons switched tactics to hunt for a large requirement on the right. It was the solid start from the Spaniard, however, that solidified the win.

Hopkins backed up her silver medal earned at the same location in 2021. The defending champion, Fitzgibbons, added a sixth WSG medal to her collection, a second bronze to join her unprecedented four golds. Rodriguez became the fourth Peruvian woman to win a WSG medal, the copper, adding her name alongside teammate Daniella Rosas (PER) andpast Gold Medalists Sofía Mulánovich (PER) and Analí Gómez (PER).

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said:

“Today, as I was standing on the stairs watching the finals, one of the athletes from Vanuatu stopped by and told me, ‘These were the best two weeks of my life.’ It was the first time Vanuatu competed at the World Surfing Games, and that memory will stay with them forever. Moments like this are what make our work so meaningful.

“I want to thank President Nayib Bukele for believing in surfing as part of the future of El Salvador, and for believing in the ISA. These past six years have been incredible for El Salvador, for the ISA, and for Olympic surfing. Thank you also to Morena Valdez, and to the amazing hosting team.

“Many years ago, Duke Kahanamoku dreamed that surfing would one day become an Olympic sport. People said it would never happen, but today his dream is a reality. As we begin the third Olympic cycle for surfing, we honor Duke’s vision. He believed in surfing, and he believed in aloha — and in our own way, we are all ambassadors of aloha. We came here in peace, we spent these two weeks in peace, and now we return home in peace. That is the true spirit of surfing. Long live surfing, long live love and peace in the world.”

El Salvador Minister of Tourism Morena Valdez said: 

“We are so excited to have the United Nations of surfing here in El Salvador. To be with all of you at the ISA World Surfing Games makes us so proud. Every year this event leaves us with something special, and for me, the most important takeaway is the friendship that grows among our nations.

“For El Salvador, surfing is more than a sport. Together with the ISA and through the vision of President Bukele, we believe surfing is a path to social, economic, and human development. Hosting the World Surfing Games is not only about competition; it is about building opportunities, friendships, and a stronger future through surfing.”

RESULTS

Team

Gold – Australia

Silver – Peru

Bronze – Spain

Copper – France

Men

Gold – Dane Henry (AUS)

Silver – Kauli Vaast (FRA)

Bronze – Morgan Cibilic (AUS)

Copper – Douglas Silva (BRA)

Women

Gold – Janire Gonzalez-Etxabarri (ESP)

Silver – Yolanda Hopkins (POR)

Bronze – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)

Copper – Arena Rodriguez (PER)