Abu Dhabi Exit Puts Leo Fioravanti Back on Top Before Trestles

The cancellation of the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro has changed the men’s Championship Tour picture before the next heat is surfed. With the 2026 schedule reduced to 12 stops, Leo Fioravanti has reclaimed the rankings lead, edging Italo Ferreira ahead of the Trestles event and intensifying the season’s title race.

Key takeaways

• Leo Fioravanti returns to the men’s world rankings lead.
• Italo Ferreira trails by fewer than 100 points.
• Yago Dora and Gabriel Medina remain within reach of the title.
• The revised season format makes dropped results increasingly important.
• Trestles begins September 11 with Fioravanti wearing the yellow jersey.

The shift is a product of the World Surf League’s revised calculations rather than a result at Trestles. Removing Abu Dhabi from the calendar allowed the league to apply another throwaway score to the standings, changing the value of earlier finishes.

How the cancellation changed the rankings

Fioravanti had briefly taken the lead after finishing runner-up in Brazil before Ferreira moved ahead in Tahiti. Fioravanti placed 17th in Tahiti, while Ferreira finished ninth—the Brazilian’s worst result of the season to that point. Once the additional discarded score was factored in, Fioravanti gained a narrow advantage.

If the two title contenders earn identical results at Trestles, their positions would remain unchanged because both are set to discard ninth-place finishes as their second throwaway scores.

A complicated road to the title

The 2026 format permits surfers to remove two results from the first nine regular-season events. Those calculations determine which 22 men and 14 women advance to postseason events in Portugal and the Philippines.

For the final championship ranking, competitors can discard three results from the regular season or postseason. That system will make the title race increasingly difficult to follow, particularly when the season-ending Pipeline event awards 1.5 times the points of a standard stop.

Yago Dora sits third and Gabriel Medina fourth, leaving both within striking distance. On the women’s side, Carissa Moore continues to hold the top position.

Trestles favors experience—but not necessarily the leader

Fioravanti will wear the yellow jersey at Trestles despite not having surfed a heat. The Italian has limited experience at the venue, recording a 25th-place finish in 2017 and a ninth in 2025. He has never competed there during the venue’s Final 5 era.

Ferreira has a much deeper record at the Southern California break, with seven appearances. He came close to winning the world title there in 2022, ultimately losing the deciding match to Filipe Toledo.

That contrast adds another layer to the matchup: Fioravanti arrives with the ranking advantage, while Ferreira brings more familiarity with the cobblestone-lined A-frame. With Trestles beginning September 11, the rankings could shift again almost immediately.

Sources

• With Abu Dhabi Canceled, a New Surfer Leads the Men’s Championship Tour, The Inertia.