South African Smith eyes Cinderella finish in Fiji finale

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FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Surfing - Mens Round 3 - Heat 1 - Teahupoo, Tahiti, French Polynesia - July 29, 2024. Jordy Smith of South Africa rides a wave. Ed Sloane/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

While Yago Dora and Molly Picklum head into the WSL finals in Fiji as top seeds and favourites for their first world titles, plenty of surf fans will be rooting for Jordy Smith as he bids for a fairytale championship after 18 years on tour.

The powerful regular-footer from Durban was touted as surfings next big thing as a teenager and joined the world tour as a 19-year-old in 2008, finishing second in 2010 and 2016.

A two-time Olympian, Smith enjoyed his best year on tour in 2025, finishing with two event wins and earning the mens second seeding going into the one-day, winner-takes-all finals.

Something has changed, truly, with Jordy this year, former pro surfer now commentator Mitchell Salazar told the WSLs The Lineup podcast. Im loving it, Ive always been a huge fan of Jordy Smith, now at 37 years of age.

If theres one person thats on tour at the moment thats deserving to be called world champ, then its this guy ... If he does it, its a Cinderella story.

Raised on South Africas long right-hand point breaks, Smith has put in the time to master his backhand tube-riding.

That will prove essential at Fijis Cloudbreak reef, especially against Brazilian goofy-footers Dora and 2019 world