Pro surfer Gabriela Bryan is having one of her best starts to a season yet. She is coming off a win at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro, her second tour stop win of the year. Now heading to California for the Lexus Trestles Pro, Bryan is wearing the yellow leader’s jersey and seems to be having the most fun out on the water. Following the mid-season cut, in which the World Surf League women’s field was cut from 18 to 10 athletes, Bryan is leading the pack. She took time out of her busy schedule to chat with Fansided about being ranked number one at this midway point and more.
“It feels so good. This is my first year that I've had the yellow jersey, and it's honestly a different kind of pressure, but I'm wanting to embrace it and use it as motivation to keep it and be in the final five,” Bryan said. “Well, there's still so much work to be done; we still have another half a season to go, so I can't let my foot off the gas just yet. But it's, honestly, it's pretty cool. I've always wanted to have the yellow jersey, and after my start, after five, it wasn't too good. So, to have the yellow for three events is pretty incredible.”
Having finished the past two years in seventh and ninth place, Bryan is poised to be in a great position to qualify for the Finals event this year. When asked what her off-season looked like and what shaped her for this impressive run of only top ten finishes, she gave credit to a focus on being home. The Hawaiian native has also worked on keeping her composure in heats and never giving up.
“I stayed home for a lot of the off-season, and I really focused on my training and just trying to improve my surfing. Before, I was kind of more focused on going to the North Shore super early and getting practice time out at Pipe, which is super important, but this year, I stayed home and, yeah, just bettered my surfing,” she said. “I do want to keep bettering my surfing, and I think that's a huge part of why I'm having a pretty good year.”
Some may say that it's lonely at the top, but that is not the case for Bryan. She is riding high with her crew behind her. Bryan credits her friends and fellow WSL Championship Tour athletes for why she is enjoying herself so much this season. Smiles and trophies can best describe Bryan’s 2025 so far, and she thanks the great company she is surrounded by along the way.
“I have a really good crew around me, like Connor O'Leary, Leo Fioravanti, and Ryan Callinan, and they are honestly probably a huge part of why I'm enjoying myself so much,” she explained. “They keep it really fun, and they've had so much experience, so they're always passing down knowledge to me, and one of the biggest things is like, hey, it's not gonna last forever, so just have fun and do the best you can and enjoy every minute of it and that kind of stuck with me. I just go out there and just focus on doing my best surfing and having a good time. That's when I do my best. So that's just kind of a different little mind change that I've had. I know that home will always be there for me when I have a break or when I'm done. So I just enjoy my time on the road.”
The WSL Championship Tour heads back to Lower Trestles for the first time in the regular season since 2020
The next stop on tour is Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California. This spot was the host of the WSL Finals event four years in a row. This year, the schedule received a shake-up, and Trestles was put back on the docket for a regular-season event. As the weather warms up and summer approaches, the athletes who made the mid-season cut will venture to this perfect bi-directional wave. The high-performance aspect of the Lower Trestles break is a surfer's dream. This is also the reason the location has been chosen as the venue when the Summer Olympic Games come to LA in 2028. Bryan is especially excited for this tour stop and the possibilities that come along with it.
“I’m actually really excited to be here, because the wave, there's so much you can do with it, it’s just like a blank canvas. So I'm super excited,” she said. “And once you get a wave with just the perfect section, it just is so easy to do the best turns you can. The possibilities are endless. I think it will push women's surfing, because you can do airs, huge carves, there's so much you can do. So, yeah, I'm so excited to be competing back here.”
Chatting with Bryan on World Ocean Day, the opportunity to ask her about the day and how the ocean impacts her life was too good to pass up. As a professional surfer, Bryan and her fellow WSL athletes spend most of their days in and around the ocean. They know firsthand the importance of keeping our oceans clean and having respect for nature in all its forms.
“The ocean is definitely my second home. I don't know what I would do without it. It's incredible, and it's given me so much,” Bryan explains. “So everywhere I go, and a lot of the surfers around the world, we do the best we can to leave it better than we found it. But yeah, the ocean is amazing, and I owe my whole life to it, so it should be celebrated every day, in my opinion.”
Catch Bryan as she takes on Luana Silva and Kirra Pinkerton in the opening round of the Lexus Trestles Pro presented by Outerknown. The competition window runs from June 9-17. The waves are building, and the contest could get the green light in the next few days. Opening and elimination rounds can be seen on WorldSurfLeague.com and WSL on YouTube. Finals day can be seen on the WSL app.