The forecast at Itaúna has held. The competition director called today a standby day. The competition resumes tomorrow.
What this pause makes possible is a clearer look at what has already happened at the 2026 VIVO Rio Pro presented by Corona Cero — and specifically at who will surf in the women's final on Praia de Itaúna when the horn sounds on Wednesday morning at 6:45 AM Brazilian Standard Time.
Tya Zebrowski versus Sawyer Lindblad. One of them will win the VIVO Rio Pro. Neither has won a Championship Tour event before.
How the Women's Final Got Here
The VIVO Rio Pro began on June 19 with a lineup stacked with the current generation's best women's surfers. Carissa Moore, the multiple world champion who had won the previous CT event in El Salvador, was in the draw. Caitlin Simmers, the 2024 world champion and two-time Rio Pro winner, was in the draw. Caroline Marks, the 2023 World Champion, was in the draw. By the end of the semifinals, none of them had made the final.
In the quarterfinals, Nadia Erostarbe — the 2026 CT rookie from Spain — eliminated Simmers. Her heat total against the defending world champion was 15.83. Zebrowski, fifteen years old and French, had beaten Moore earlier in the event. In the women's semifinals, Zebrowski posted a 14.84 combined heat total to eliminate Erostarbe and reach her first CT final. Sawyer Lindblad eliminated 2023 World Champion Caroline Marks on the other side of the bracket to join her.
The result is a women's final contested by two athletes who are either in their first CT season or close to it — at one of the Championship Tour's most demanding and consequence-heavy venues, in front of the most invested surf crowd in the world.
Zebrowski, at fifteen, is in her debut CT season. Lindblad, who has also had success on Tour, is similarly positioned in terms of career trajectory: young, rising, and now in a CT Major final in Brazil. The performance level required to get here was not an accident or a series of favourable matchups. Both athletes surfed with authority through one of the hardest draws the women's CT field can produce.
Gabriela Bryan, the current CT rankings leader who produced a 17.33 combined heat total earlier in the event — the best score of the 2026 season — was not in the final. The scoreboard this week has not reflected the season's established hierarchy. This is what Saquarema does.
What the Final Means for the CT
The Championship Tour's season has ten stops. Saquarema is Stop 6. The points available from a CT final — and from a CT win — at the midpoint of the season carry the weight of a definitional moment.
The athlete who wins the VIVO Rio Pro on Wednesday collects a result that sits in their season record for the rest of 2026. A win here, for either Zebrowski or Lindblad, would be their first CT title. A first CT title at Saquarema, in a final that no established champion reached — the narrative write will be immediate and it will be accurate.
For CT championship implications, the key variable is what this result does to the ranking's current structure. Bryan's 17.33 heat total is the week's most exceptional individual score; her finishing position determines how far her rankings lead extends or compresses. The four remaining events after Brazil run through the summer and autumn; whoever leaves Saquarema with the win carries its weight across all of them.
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Join ZealZagFollow us on InstagramThe Men's Draw
On the men's side, the bracket has been shaped by the Brazilian presence on their home break. Yago Dora, who won the 2023 VIVO Rio Pro Final and arrived in 2026 with strong early-round form, has progressed deep into the draw and is positioned toward the men's final. His quarterfinal win over Callum Robson ended 14.17 to 7.00; the headline from the Dora-Pupo quarterfinal matchup framed it as him "powering toward a rematch" of his 2023 final.
The men's semifinals and final will complete on Wednesday alongside the women's competition. The bracket's full resolution — men's final matchup and both results — will emerge from Finals Day.
Tomorrow at Itaúna
The morning call at 6:45 AM BRT is the competition director's next opportunity to read the ocean and decide whether conditions meet the standard for professional surfing. The swell models have been tracked through the week; the window of June 24 is expected to deliver rideable conditions at Itaúna.
If it runs, Wednesday ends the 2026 VIVO Rio Pro.
For the full competition progression from the event's start, see our Day 1 field report from June 19 and the Finals Day June 22 field report. For a guide to surfing southern Brazil — a different Brazilian surf destination from Saquarema — see our Florianópolis surfing guide.
