“I’m super excited; it’s been an incredible journey,” she said, shortly after being crowned champion of the waves of Rio de Janeiro.
It was the first victory of her career in the World Surf League (WSL) Challenger Series, following a week in which she mathematically secured entry into the 2026 WSL Championship Tour (CT), becoming the first Portuguese woman on that circuit – among men, Portugal has previously been represented by Tiago Pires and Frederico Morais.
For Hopkins, this event “has been so special in recent years,” and sealing the victory “is incredible.”
In the final, the 27-year-old from Algarve defeated Spain’s Annette Gonzalez Etxabarri, scoring 13.16 points out of a possible 20 on her two best waves (7.33 and 5.83), compared to 10.20 (5.33 and 4.87) from her Basque opponent.
“I was trying to stay calm; the waves were challenging. I knew I had to be in top shape against a great surfer,” she noted.
Stating that she’s used to training in shallower waves, with many events of this style in Europe, meant that preparing without “caring about the sea conditions” helped her win, she said.
The Banco do Brasil Saquarema Pro, at Itaúna Beach in Rio de Janeiro, is the fifth and penultimate stage of the Challenger Series (CS), which offers access to the 2026 CT, 10 for the men’s competition and seven for the women’s.
The Olympic surfer from Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 used her victory to tie France’s Tya Zebrowski at the top of the rankings, where Francisca Veselko is fourth and Teresa Bonvalot is 12th, with only two stages remaining in the season.
In 2026, the Lexus Pipe Challenger, in Oahu, Hawaii, from January 29 to February 9, and the Newcastle Surfest, from March 9 to 15, in Australia, are the final two events of the secondary circuit.
