Olympians Caity Simmers and John John Florence won world surfing titles on Friday, giving the U.S. a sweep of the women’s and men’s crowns for the first time since 2011.
Simmers, an 18-year-old from Oceanside, California, became the youngest world champion in World Surf League history.
She outdueled Olympic gold medalist Caroline Marks in a best-of-three championship series at Lower Trestles off San Clemente, California.
“I literally went and cried in the locker room for, like, 30 minutes until my first heat,” Simmers said in the water. “I didn’t want freaking Caroline to have it all, because that freaking girl wins everything, and she’s like, the hardest person I compete against, and she literally, like, never falls.”
In the first heat, Simmers took the lead with an 8.37-point wave in the final minute of the 35-minute head-to-head. Then Marks scored 9.60 as time expired to prevail 17.43 to 16.87.
In the second heat, Simmers counted scores of 9.20 and 9.17 out of 10 for 18.37 points, the single highest combination in the four-year history of the WSL Finals format for men or women.
The decider was a more straightforward win for Simmers: 15.16 to 7.17 with a lack of waves.
The WSL Finals were introduced in 2021 with the top five surfers per gender advancing from the regular season to bracketed playoffs.
The women’s and men’s playoffs started with the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds facing off. The winner faced the No. 3 seed. The next winner faced the No. 2 seed. The next winner faced the No. 1 seed in the championship series.
Both Simmers and Florence had byes into the best-of-three championship series at the five-surfer finals as the highest-ranked surfers from the regular season.
Before 2021, world champions were crowned solely off season-long points standings.
Simmers is six days younger than the previous youngest WSL world champion — Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore, who won the first of her five world titles at age 18 in 2011.
There were younger world champions before the International Professional Surfing (IPS) formed in 1976, including 15-year-old American Margo Oberg (then Godfrey) in 1968.
Simmers won the 2021 U.S. Open at age 15 and qualified for the 2022 World Surf League Championship Tour. She chose to stay on the developmental Challenger Series instead that year to prioritize time with family and friends, school and maturing as an athlete.
She debuted full-time on the Championship Tour in 2023, won her third contest, was fourth at those WSL Finals and earned the last spot on the three-woman U.S. Olympic team for 2024.
At the Olympics in Tahiti, Simmers was eliminated in the round of 16.
All three U.S. women who have competed in Olympic surfing have now won world titles: Simmers, Marks in 2023 and Moore (most recent in 2021).
In the men’s finals Friday, Florence earned his third world title, sweeping Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Italo Ferreira of Brazil in the championship series: 15.50 to 15.33 and 18.13 to 16.30.
Florence tied 11-time world champion Kelly Slater’s record for the longest gap between world titles since the IPS was formed: seven years.
“The last seven years have been so tough,” said Florence, who teared up in the water. “So many injuries and just fighting back to be in this position and then having this new format, so stressful.”
The Hawaiian’s highlight was a 9.70-point wave in the second match, the single highest score in finals history, according to WSL commentary.
Florence ended Brazil’s streak of five consecutive crowns since Florence won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017.
The last time Americans swept the world titles was 2011, when Moore won her first title and Slater won his 11th and final title.
JJF WITH A 9.70 ‼️
— World Surf League (@wsl) September 6, 2024
Potentially just minutes away from his third World Title.@lexus #WSLFinals pic.twitter.com/rlBtt4kmKb