# VIVO Rio Pro 2026: Yago Dora Reigns on Home Soil as Sawyer Lindblad Claims Her First CT Title
The town of Saquarema had been waiting all week for this. By Friday morning, when the WSL green-lit Finals Day at Itaúna Beach, the roads into this small town 90 kilometres east of Rio de Janeiro were already backed up with surf fans, board bags overhanging the windows of cars and motos. The ocean — for the first time all event — was genuinely delivering.
East swells stacked the horizon. The iconic white church, Igreja Nossa Senhora de Nazareth, gleamed on its rocky promontory above the break. And Brazil's best active surfer had a trophy with his name on it waiting.
Yago Dora: Home Hero, Highest Scores
The men's final was a statement. Yago Dora, 28, from Florianópolis, surfed with hunger that bordered on recklessness — attacking the Itaúna left with a full-rotation air reverse in his first minutes on the clock, nearly falling, somehow landing it, the crowd behind the beach rope erupting in noise that rolled across the headland.
His final heat score of 15.00 out of 20 was the highest total of either final on Finals Day. Throughout the event he had posted an event-best 8.50 single-wave score and dominated the draw with a consistency that kept rivals from finding any weakness. In the final he defeated Italy's Leonardo Fioravanti — the same surfer who had beaten him at the previous Championship Tour stop in El Salvador — in a reversal that kept the men's season one of the most tightly contested in recent memory.
“Saquarema is magic for me," Dora said, his flag around his shoulders, the crowd still buzzing. "I surfed here as a kid watching the pros. To win here feels like everything.”
Dora departs Rio ranked World No. 2, trailing title leader Fioravanti by a margin that will keep fans guessing through the season's remaining events.
Sawyer Lindblad: The Moment Everything Changed
If Dora's win was the expected result — he has won at Saquarema before — Sawyer Lindblad's women's final was anything but.
The 23-year-old American from Half Moon Bay, California, entered the event ranked fifth on tour. She had been knocking on the door of a maiden CT win for two seasons: runner-up at the Bells Beach Pro in 2025, semifinalist at Margaret River in 2026. In Saquarema, the door finally swung open.
She faced 15-year-old French rookie Tya Zebrowski in the final — the teenager's first-ever Championship Tour final appearance — and surfed like someone who had been waiting for exactly this moment for her entire career. Lindblad worked the Itaúna left with precision, finding tube time and backing two top-shelf scores that put the heat out of Zebrowski's reach inside the first ten minutes.
The final scores: Lindblad 14.23, Zebrowski 11.70.
“I can't process this yet," Lindblad said, still standing in the shallows when the hooter sounded. "I've been on tour for three years and every event I've learned something. This week it all came together.”
Connect with training partners, earn travel miles, and discover terrain worth crossing borders for.
Join ZealZagFollow us on InstagramZebrowski: The Story That Was Not a Loss
For all that Lindblad deserved the win, Saquarema will equally be remembered for Zebrowski. At 15 years and four months, the Lyon-born, Hossegor-trained surfer became the first French woman to reach a Championship Tour final. She posted the event's highest single-wave women's score — a 9.25 in her quarterfinal — and surfed with creativity and fearlessness all week against competitors a decade her senior.
“She will win this tour one day," said three-time world champion Carissa Moore, who exited in the quarterfinals. "Probably more than once.”
The Waves That Finally Arrived
After several days of inconsistent conditions during the event window, Itaúna delivered on Finals Day. East swell at 1.2 metres with NW offshore winds meant the Saquarema left was walling and hollow from mid-break out, with a consistent tube section at the inside rock shelf rewarding committed surfing. The white church on the headland, the packed beach, the blue-green Atlantic: the setting matched the occasion.
Title Race
Three events remain in the 2026 WSL Championship Tour. Defending champion Carissa Moore holds the women's lead. Lindblad's win has rocketed her into genuine title contention. Zebrowski — still only 15 — will be a factor in every event she enters for the next decade.
---
Planning a surf trip to Brazil? Read our complete Saquarema and Itaúna Beach surf guide.