Isla Huppatz + Dane Henry Crowned 2025/2026 World Junior Champs

It’s worth prefacing that the conditions were completely awful. Glorified ankle slappers at La Union in the Phillipines. A week of waiting, hoping, praying for a swell, and this was the best the weather could offer. You could take a year off surfing, be as fed up with life as one can be, spend a week staring at your phone, go through a divorce, be itchy, itchy, itchy, and you’d still need some convincing to paddle out. 

“It’s a game of inches out there today,” said Stace G during the women’s semi. “If I was out there, I’d be on an 11’11’’ paddle board.” 

Anyway, now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s what happened.

Defending world junior champ and event favourite, Sierra Kerr, faced off against Isla Huppatz in the women’s final. The waves, by now, had gained a whole inch since the semis, though still, getting across them required furious, furious pumping.

Sierra had the run of it for most of the heat, but Isla had the higher individual score, and that, in the end, was what mattered. With five minutes to go, Isla paddled into a shin-high right. Probably the biggest wave of the heat, and nailed the first and only section. Judges handed her what she needed, a mid-five, and that was the end of it. 18 years old, and the 2025/2026 world junior champion.

“I can’t believe it,” she said after her heat. “I was getting pretty rattled, but it’s not over til it’s over. When the buzzer was counting down, I started to tear up. I just can’t believe it.”

Lennix Smith, the loveable Beagle, had Dane Henry by the throat in the men’s semi. But with five seconds left, a bump, perhaps slightly bigger than the other bumps, surfaced. Dane had priority, stroked in, tagged it thrice, and unleashed a full-body gorilla flex. Len could be seen slapping the water behind the flexing beast. The score was announced on the beach, and it went to Dane.

“I’m really glad that the ocean chose me in that heat,” Dane said.

“That was the world title heat,” said the booth.

And it was. Dane faced off against Nadav Attar, a 20-year-old from Israel, in the final, and pretty much pieced him up. World Junior Champ.

Both Isla and Dane secure wildcards for next year’s Challenger Series, skipping the grind of QS qualification. Can they catapult straight to the CT before the year closes?