History Made at the 2026 ISA World Juniors (and What's Next)

Now that fall is here, there's more swell making more news, and we wanted to make sure you didn't miss the history that went down last month in El Salvador at the 2026 Surf City El Salvador ISA World Junior Surfing Championship.

From September 4 to 13, more than 400 of the world's best surfers aged 18 and under, representing 56 nations (crazy, right?!), battled it out at the point breaks of La Bocana and El Sunzal.

One of the main reasons it's such a big event is that most of the surfers who have competed in the Olympics got their start here.

Team Australia made history at La Bocana by winning its 10th world title, and its third in a row.

But that wasn't the only history made...

Keep reading to find out how a 13-year-old rewrote the record books, how Team USA's Jett Maughan stopped Australia from sweeping every gold medal, how the Netherlands won its first-ever medal at the event, and what's coming up in El Salvador.

Jett Maughan Breaks the Aussie Wall

Photo courtesy ISA/Pablo Franco

Australia won three of the four individual divisions and the only one they didn't take was because of Jett Maughan.

Even though it was his first World Junior appearance, and the 17-year-old from Cardiff put on a show. He threw a backhand air reverse for a 9.00 in the semis, and in the final, his solid railwork on the La Bocana right earned an 8.43. that was enough to edge out two Australians, Ben Zanatta Creagh and Ocean Lancaster.

It was a super close matchup: only 0.32 points separated all three surfers. In the end, Jett took home the gold.

Photo courtesy ISA/Pablo Franco

“I’m speechless right now. I have so much to say but I can’t put the words out,” Jett said. “All event I just tried to stay as focused as possible, especially from the Quarterfinals and beyond. I tried to give it my all and not leave anything left on the table, and I’m stoked it worked. I was so stoked to get on such good waves. I just figured there’s nothing to lose, I’m already in the Final, so I gave it my everything. I could not have done this without everyone. Thank you so much to my parents, I wouldn’t be here without you guys, and all my friends supporting me back home. It’s hard to believe. I’m so stoked.”

Leihani Zoric, 13, Rewrites the Record Books

Photo courtesy ISA/Pablo Franco

Leihani Zoric didn't technically qualify for the U/18 division. She came in on a wildcard. Not only that, she was one of the younget competitors at age 13. But as soon as she got the spot, she told her parents exactly what she planned to do.

"I'm going to win this. I'm going there to win the gold," Zoric recalled telling them.

And she did. Zoric posted a 16.00 in the final, the highest heat total in her division all event, and became the youngest U/18 World Junior Champion in ISA history.

Her win is historic for another reason: she's the first U/18 girls' title for an Australian since Tyler Wright in 2010.

Zoric, an Indigenous Australian, now joins Wright, Stephanie Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons as one of nine Australian women to hold an ISA World Junior title.

Photo courtesy ISA/Pablo Franco

“I’m only 13 and I wouldn’t have ever dreamt of winning an ISA in under 18s at this age, so if you believe it and you dream it, you can achieve it," she said. "From the start I put it in the team group chat that I had a really good feeling we were gonna win, I even made an AI photo of us all with gold medals on, and to actually be able to do that in real life means so much.”

A First for the Netherlands

The Netherlands isn't usually mentioned alongside Australia, the USA and Brazil, but this year Zoie Zietz changed that.

She reached the U/18 Girls final and took silver behind Zoric, winning the first medal in the Netherlands' history at the event.

Zoie Zietz. Photo courtesy ISA/Pablo Franco

She wasn't the only surfer to make her country proud. In the same final, Victoria Muñoz Larreta won the copper, Argentina's first-ever girls' medal. Luara Mandelli took bronze, the first medal for a Brazilian woman since 2006.

In the U/16 Boys, Lucca Barrientos won copper, Peru's first boys' medal since 2016. New Zealand's Alani Morse won U/16 Girls bronze, which equals the country's best-ever individual result.

Team Australia's Three-Peat

Lucy Darragh. Photo courtesy ISA/Pablo Franco

Australia's team gold was its 10th all-time and its third in a row. This year the squad took six individual medals, and three of them were gold.

Lucy Darragh avenged her 2025 bronze by winning U/16 Girls. She was the only surfer in the draw already competing on the WSL Challenger Series.

Locana Cullen, 15, turned onshore conditions into an airshow in the U/16 Boys final. He landed a full rotation for an 8.67 and finished with a 16.44 heat total.

Zanatta Creagh, Lancaster and Rio Luther Barr added a silver and two bronzes.

Behind Australia, the team podium was identical to 2025: the USA took silver, Brazil bronze and Peru copper.

Up Next in El Salvador

Photo: ISA/Jersson Barboza

Surf City El Salvador has hosted 11 ISA events since 2019, and it isn't slowing down. The ISA World Longboard Championship runs October 16–22 at El Sunzal.

Then Latin America's top pros take over Mizata Beach for the ALAS Global Tour, November 9–14. In 2027, El Sunzal crowns the WSL longboard world champions March 13–21.

La Bocana and El Sunzal host the ISA World Surfing Games, a key qualifier for the LA 2028 Olympics, May 22–30.