Yolanda Hopkins Battles to Ericeira Bronze, Keeping Portugal’s World Tour Hopes Alive

Under a grey Atlantic sky at Ribeira d’Ilhas, Portugal’s surf fans watched their tricolor hopes hinge on a single board. By Sunday afternoon those hopes had a name—Yolanda Hopkins—and a result: a bronze-coloured third place at the EDP Ericeira Pro that keeps her on course for the sport’s two biggest stages, the World Surf League Championship Tour and, further ahead, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Lone flag still flying over the reef

When the horn sounded for the women’s semi-finals, the local crowd had just one athlete left to chant for. Hopkins, 26, had steered through early rounds that saw every other Portuguese contender—from Teresa Bonvalot to Frederico “Kikas” Morais—washed out by international rivals. The Algarve-born surfer answered with crisp backside carves that felt designed for the right-hand point of Ericeira, posting a pair of heats in the 13-point range to reach the final four. A slender 0.9-point margin against Australia’s India Robinson finally ended the run, yet the applause that met Hopkins on the sand suggested the audience judged her performance a win in everything but the ledger.

Heat-by-heat: how the Algarve star carved a podium

Hopkins’ campaign clicked into gear in the round of 32 when she out-paced Brazil’s Laura Raupp with a 13.80 combined tally. A day later she took down American title hopeful Alyssa Spencer, nailing a 7.33 on her opening ride and backing it with a 6.50. Those scores, both earned inside the critical bowl section, forced Spencer to chase a near-impossible 8-point requirement and pushed the Portuguese into the semi-final round. Facing Robinson, Hopkins stitched together 6.83 and 5.10 but could not match the Australian’s final wave, a 7.33 that sealed a 12.83–11.93 verdict. "I showed I belong up there," she told reporters afterward, her wetsuit still dripping.

Why third place matters more than it sounds

The Challenger Series is the only gateway to the WSL Championship Tour; seven women will punch their tickets when the seven-event calendar ends. Hopkins left Ericeira sitting second in the global standings on 23,375 points. Had she converted the semi-final into a win, the 10,000-point haul would have made qualification a mathematical formality. Even so, the 6,085 points she banked at home tighten her grip on a historic first: becoming Portugal’s inaugural full-time CT surfer. That status is more than bragging rights. Since Tokyo 2020, the International Surfing Association has used CT rankings as a fast track to Olympic slots, meaning a seat on next year’s tour could become the shortest road to Los Angeles 2028.

How the rest of the Portuguese squad fared—and why it stings

The tournament began with ten national entries but ended with nine early exits. Francisca Veselko fell in the round of 16 to Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki, despite opening with a rapid 6.77. A day earlier, Teresa Bonvalot placed last in her heat, undone by an uncharacteristic wipe-out that left her chasing scoreable sets that never arrived. On the men’s side, Kikas Morais bowed out in the round of 64, while Afonso Antunes and Guilherme Ribeiro exited even sooner. In a country that won its first world-tour event only three years ago, those eliminations felt like a step back, and they sharpened the spotlight on Hopkins’ lone breakthrough.

Next stop: Saquarema—and the numbers game

With four of seven Challenger contests completed, attention now pivots to Brazil’s Corona Saquarema Pro in late October. Calculators are already clacking: another semi-final would likely cement Hopkins’ CT berth even before the season-ender in Haleiwa, Hawai‘i. She is keenly aware. “I’m not celebrating yet; rankings shuffle quickly,” she said, though her grin suggested otherwise. Competitors chasing her include Americans Caitlin Simmers and Alyssa Spencer plus new threat India Robinson, but Hopkins carries the intangible edge of momentum and a toolkit tailored for punchy beach breaks like Saquarema’s Itaúna.

Ericeira’s growing stature on the global map

What once was a quiet fishing parish now hosts one of the most coveted Challenger Series stops, thanks to the consistent Atlantic swell that wraps around the point. Town officials estimate the weeklong window attracted 35,000 spectators and injected roughly €4 M into the local economy. For Portugal’s surf community, the event is more than tourism; it serves as a crucible for the next generation. Each year teenagers gather along the cliff, eyes fixed on surfers such as Hopkins, sketching their own ambitions on the salt-sprayed horizon. If she completes her march to the Championship Tour, that vision will feel a little closer for every young board-carrier from Sagres to Viana do Castelo.