After making the finals of the Pro Taghazout Bay over the weekend, Welsh surfer Alys Barton has officially qualified for the WSL’s Challenger Series – which is one-step below the Championship Tour.
For the next season, the CS has five events running from July of this year through to March 2027. The top surfers from the CS will qualify for the Championship Tour. These five events are:
- Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: July 12 – 18, 2026
- Huntington Beach, California, USA: July 27 – August 2, 2026
- São Sebastião, Brazil: September 26 – October 3, 2026
- Ericeira, Portugal: October 6 – 12, 2026
- Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: March 1 – 7, 2027
Alys put on a blistering performance in Morocco, charging her way to the final before losing out to Basque surfer Janire Gonzalez Etxabarri.
This was Alys’ first final since Caparica last year and jumped from 12th place to fifth place, qualifying her for the CS. Prior to the event, Alys mentioned she was feeling “fired up for it,” evidenced by putting on the performance of the day.
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You’ll recall, last year, Rip Curl ended their contract with Alys, marking her as a free-agent.
“It was a lovely run to be part of that team. It’s just a situation that happened and you’ve got to take the positives and go forward from it. I didn’t leave Rip Curl, not being sponsored by them any more was out of my control,” she told Wavelength at the time.
“Now, I want to work with people who look at me, and my surfing and say, ‘yeah I want to work with you for the next five, 10 years and we build something together.’”
Read the full story: Alys Barton On Setting The Record Straight
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Looking back through the records, Alys is now the first UK surfer to make it onto the Challenger Series. What’s next for nurturing UK talent will likely come from the direction of surfing body, GB Surfing, which is having a bit of an overhaul on processes at the moment.
Running the CS gauntlet is not cheap, and to flex that cost on the shoulders of an early-20s surfer is a pressure best removed by financial support and backing of major sponsorship deals.
And yet, on the brighter side of European surfing, Alys is joining a regional movement of absolutely world-class surfers out of the Old Continent. Just a few months ago, our Issue 268 cover star, Tya Zebrowski became the youngest ever CT qualifier after winning the CS, the Tahiti-born, Hossegor-moulded phenom is a kind to Carissa Moore style of surfing. Portugal’s Yolanda Hopkins and Franchisca Veselko also join the CT ranks this season, along with the Basque Country’s Nadia Erostarbe.
The future of European surfing is looking extremely vibrant right now – and for investors looking to make moves, now’s your time.
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