Burleigh Heads has turned on for an epic day of competition at the Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro Presented by GWM, Stop No. 6 on the 2025 World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT). The fourth full day of competition saw the completion of the men’s Round of 32 and Round of 16 to set up the Quarterfinalists now for both the men and women. Today’s competitors put on a show in the three-to-five foot waves, posting some of the biggest numbers of the event so far.
The first heat of the day saw former CT competitor and Gold Coast Trials winner Julian Wilson (AUS) take down World No. 1 Italo Ferreira (BRA) in another major upset. It was bound to be a fiery matchup with the pair having won the last two Gold Coast CT events, Wilson in 2018 and Ferreira in 2019, and showing obvious form at Burleigh Heads. From the start of the heat, Ferreira kept busy, darting around the lineup and launching off sections, but seemed to struggle to find connection. Wilson, on the other hand, played a relatively patient game, picking off the medium sets and putting together seamless turns down the line to put up a mid-range heat total. Ferreira had a few opportunities to take the lead, but it slipped through his hands, leaving him to take his second 17th-place finish in as many events.
“The lineup is super tricky this morning, but I feel like I adapted well,” Wilson said. “I’m so excited for the opportunity and feel like I have a ton of energy. I haven’t surfed many heats against Italo [Ferreira], and when I was on Tour, it was always a matchup that I wanted. You always want to match up with those top 10 guys. He has had an incredible first half of the year and is obviously World No. 1, so it was a great opportunity for me to go up against the guy to beat. It just feels special to be a part of this event on its return to the Gold Coast, and to then surf against guys like Jack [Robinson] and Italo is cool because I’ve been watching them surf heats for years and I feel like all my energy has been bottled-up and ready to be delivered on the big stage again.”
Wilson’s bottled-up energy was further released in his afternoon Round of 16 match-up against Marco Mignot (FRA). The 2018 World Title runner-up delivered an 18.00 heat total, the highest of the event, thanks to a masterclass in variety. Wilson earned an 8.50 for a huge straight air with slob grab, but an even more impressive performance followed. The 36-year-old blew the back out of a long wall multiple times, reading it to perfection to exit a rare barrel as he powered down the line and put up the highest single wave score of the event, a 9.50. The former CT veteran left the French Rookie requiring a combination of scores as he moved into the Quarterfinals for the first time since he departed the Tour in 2021.
“This just feels amazing and really is beyond my dreams,” Wilson continued. “I thought I would be manifesting something like this, and it’s come really quickly, but I feel like I’m growing as the event goes on. I’m here with three kids and my wife, and I am just going with the flow, and I think it’s working for me. I’m kind of surprised myself with some of these performances, and it feels good to do it in front of my kids and my family.”
Toledo Leads Strong Charge from Brazilian Storm at Burleigh
Two-time World Champion Filipe Toledo (BRA) moved into the Quarterfinals for the second time this season, leading a strong charge of his countrymen, who make up half of the remaining eight men’s surfers in the event. A full-rotation air reverse from Toledo changed the momentum in a slow heat for the 2015 Gold Coast Pro winner. Jake Marshall (USA) had maintained a decent lead headed into the final minutes of their Round of 16 heat, continuing his searing form on the rail from Bells Beach, before Toledo launched his lofty rotation to earn an excellent 8.00 and the heat win.
“That was exciting for whoever’s watching, but not for me,” Toledo laughed. “It was tricky today, blessed to get that one little ramp. That wave came out of nowhere. We were paddling over a wave, and then that was like a little double up, like sucking on the reef, on the little sandbank right here. I was like, maybe this is the one, maybe this is what I need. As soon as I took off, I saw the section. I was like, oh, I’m going to have to go for the air again.”
Toledo will next meet Yago Dora (BRA) in the Quarterfinals. Dora narrowly snuck through a tight match against Alan Cleland Jr. (MEX) and now sits as World No. 2 in the live rankings. The pair will be joined on Finals Day by Alejo Muniz (BRA) and Miguel Pupo (BRA). It will be the second Quarterfinal appearance on the Gold Coast for Muniz, who placed fifth as a rookie in 2011, and the third time for Pupo, who made the finals series in back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015, peaking with a third-place finish in 2015.
The day’s results guaranteed a place on Tour in 2026 for both Toledo and M. Pupo, who joined Dora in making the Mid-season Cut. Meanwhile, Muniz has climbed eight places in the live rankings over the course of the event so far to currently sit two places above the Cut.
O’Brien Embraces the Pressure in Round of 32, Goes Down in Round of 16 to Igarashi
Giant cardboard cutouts featuring the head of Liam O’Brien (AUS) lined the point at Burleigh as the local boy took to the lineup for a marquee Round of 32 match-up against Griffin Colapinto (USA). Having never defeated the Californian after five previous head-to-head heats, O’Brien was fired up to turn the page on home soil. Tapping into his local knowledge, O’Brien stuck to his game plan of sitting near the top of the point, while Colapinto situated himself closer to the beach. After an opening mid-range score, the Australian unleashed his sharp forehand attack on a long, running wall, delivering blow after blow to earn a 9.10 and create a lead that Colapinto was unable to crack.
“That was unreal,” O’Brien said. “Griff [Colapinto]’s a top-tier competitor. He’s one of the guys that you want to try and beat. I think he’s beaten me about 50 times over the last couple of years, so I was pretty keen to try and get one back on him. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Heading into the event, O’Brien was sitting two places below the Mid-season Cut and in need of solid results in the two remaining events of the GWM Aussie Treble. Rather than feeling the pressure of the Cut and living up to the expectations of competing at home, the 26-year-old has chosen to accept it as a privilege and is feeding off the energy of the highly supportive local crowd.
“Oh, it’s the coolest thing ever, I mean, it’s like a double-edged sword,” O’Brien continued. “I was thinking before my first heats, this is sort of where I started doing little comps in boardriders and getting coached and all that sort of stuff. It’s pretty cool to go from that, all the way back, to being on Tour, but coming back to this same spot where it all started. It’s pretty special. And then to have everyone on the beach that was there all along the way is unreal. I just take it on as an honour to be out there representing the community and yeah, go and throw everything I’ve got at it and just not get too caught up in the result.”
O’Brien then headed to the Round of 16, where he took on Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) in the last heat of the day. As the huge crowds filled in to cheer on their local hero, Igarashi came bursting out of the gates, posting a 17.17 two-wave total on his opening two waves. O’Brien waited for the right wave to counter, and eventually did, finding a long, deep tube to post his own excellent score and get out of combination. Igarashi then sat with priority for the entire second half of the heat while O’Brien never found a wave that offered him the opportunity to go excellent again, leaving him to bow out of his home event in equal 9th place.
“I feel like I had to go big in that heat against Liam,” Igarashi said. “When I paddled out, he just had this look like he was going to be really hard to beat, and I fully felt it. I just told myself I need two waves. I got those two waves, and there was still a lot of time left, so I just had to get tactical. Being able to compete in a CT at your home break must be amazing. It must have been an amazing feeling for him to have that crowd chanting behind him; it made me smile. I just soaked it in, and I could see he was, too.”
Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro Presented by GWM Men’s Round of 16 Results:
HEAT 1: Yago Dora (BRA) 10.73 DEF. Alan Cleland (MEX) 10.50
HEAT 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.17 DEF. Jake Marshall (USA) 12.17
HEAT 3: Morgan Cibilic (AUS) 16.93 DEF. Seth Moniz (HAW) 13.77
HEAT 4: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.17 DEF. Barron Mamiya (HAW) 11.17
HEAT 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) 18.00 DEF. Marco Mignot (FRA) 14.96
HEAT 6: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.33 DEF. Deivid Silva (BRA) 10.93
HEAT 7: Jordy Smith (RSA) 17.27 DEF. Joao Chianca (BRA) 16.10
HEAT 8: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 17.17 DEF. Liam O’Brien (AUS) 15.54
Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro Presented by GWM Men’s Quarterfinal Matchups:
HEAT 1: Yago Dora (BRA) vs. Filipe Toledo (BRA)
HEAT 2: Morgan Cibilic (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
HEAT 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
HEAT 4: Jordy Smith (RSA) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
Bonsoy Gold Coast Pro Presented by GWM Women’s Quarterfinal Matchups:
HEAT 1: Luana Silva (BRA) vs. Vahine Fierro (FRA)
HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) vs. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW)
HEAT 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Erin Brooks (CAN)
HEAT 4: Isabella Nichols (AUS) vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
