19 April 2026
From: Surfing New Zealand
Sport: Surfing
Event: 2026 Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver, Roxy and the WSL
Location: Manu Bay, Raglan
Event Info: Surfing New Zealand
Tom Butland and Alani Morse Secure WSL Wildcards
Taranaki’s Tom Butland and local Raglan surfer Alani Morse have secured the World Surf League (WSL) wildcards for the Raglan leg of the WSL World Tour taking place next month.
In clean 1.5m – 2.0m waves at Raglan’s famed Manu Bay, the two surfers won their respective divisions of the 2026 Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver, Roxy and the WSL today.
24-year-old Tom Butland battled through a field of 112 surfers in the Open Men’s Division while Alani Morse topped a field of 32 surfers in the Open Women’s Division as well as claiming the Under 20 Girls Division earlier in the afternoon.
The two surfers will now face off against the best in the world when the tour arrives in New Zealand, joining Raglan surfer Billy Stairmand as the three Kiwi representatives. The three surfers join an elite group of five others to have surfed at the top echelon of the sport.
Butland stormed to victory in the final after a slow start saw him sitting in fourth place. However, the strong natural footer patiently sat deep on the point before picking up an 8.50 point ride then a 7.87 point ride immediately after to jump to the lead.
“Yeah, pretty special, I don’t even know where to start out. I’m pretty stoked,” said a near speechless Butland.
“The conditions put it on for us in our final, and boys were ripping. Elliott was going hard all heat, same with Tao and Kora,” he added.
“I was kind of just thinking, I’ve got to go full steam into the final. Otherwise, the boys are just going to take me down. Once I got that eight, I was like, all right, I just need to settle down and find a good one, crack a good turn, and then make sure I finish it and I did on that last wave.
“It’s wild to think about the wildcard, I’m kind of tripping on it, eh, I can’t even believe it, to be honest.”
Shout out to my physio, strength and conditioning coach Joe. I actually was injured all of last year with my knee and then I blew my shoulder and elbow, last year was a real rough year. So I’ll be locking in for the next month trying to get top form, and come back to Rags, probably come back to Rags next time there’s gonna be a couple swells too.”
Elliot Paerata – Reid held the lead for much of the 30 minute final posting a 15.50 point heat total before succumbing to Butland late. Local surfer Kora Cooper got the Manu Bay hillside cheering loud for his performances before finishing in third place with Mount Maunganui’s Tao Mouldey finishing in fourth after a stellar run to the finals.
Alani Morse was the youngest of the finalists in the Open Women’s Division and she left it until her last wave with less than a minute remaining to score a 6.93 and jump from fourth to first. With a deft knowledge of the break, Alani scraped into a small wave deep but she could see it lining up down the point and knew it had the potential for a buzzer beater.
“I was in tears after that final” said an emotional Morse.
“I just knew that I was gonna get a wave at the end, so I was kind of just waiting, like I was at peace with the whole heat, and I know everyone was stressing on the beach, but I knew God had it under control and… yeah, I can’t believe what just happened.”
“I thought I had the score, um, I never, overthink it because, you know, sometimes you can think you surfed well, but you hadn’t, but, I felt really confident.”
“I’ve looked up to, like, all those girls older than me for so long, and coming to every King and Queen of the Point and watching them, I’ve always wanted to win it, and I guess this is, like, the best time to win it, obviously, but just not even separating it from the wildcard, I guess I wanted to win this for as long as I can remember. The May event is a big opportunity. It’s really exciting. Yeah, I’ll be able to push myself against some really amazing surfers, so I’ll be really excited and training for all that.”
Alexis Owen snatched the win in the Under 20 Boys Division with a final wave 6.40 in the dying stages of the final to edge out Rico Haybittle (Burleigh) – 12.57 v 12.50. Owen looked strong in the final and his last wave, a big two-turn combo spear headed his performance for the weekend which also included a quarterfinal finish in the Open Men’s Division.
Haybittle had control of the final for almost 19 minutes with a series of strong backhand turns but had to settle for second behind Owen. Young 15-year-old Sol Fritchley (Mnt) finished in third after five days of strong performances, posting a 10.27 point heat total and Taimana Marupo (Mnt) in fourth after a slow start hampered his performance until a last gasp 5.50 on his last wave.
Alani Morse made the Under 20 Girls Division final count with a strong performance at her local break. Her finals performance was highlighted by a 6.83 point ride to round out the 20 minute heat.
Morse secured the win over Lola Groube (Pau) in second, Maya Mateja (Rag) in third and Kyra Wallis (Piha) in fourth.
The heritage heat was claimed by Raglan local and New Zealand surfing icon Daniel Kereopa who navigated the six person final the best, Kereopa was joined by two-time champion Tom Carroll, famous DJ Dimity Stoyle, Backdoor Surf founder Geoff Hutchison, Luke Cederman and WSL wildcard surfer Billy Stairmand.
The WSL Corona Cero New Zealand Pro presented by Bonsoy takes place from 15-15 May at Manu Bay and features the top sixty surfers in the world.
The five-day Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver, Roxy and the WSL took place from Wednesday – Sunday with an array of challenging conditions to test New Zealand’s best. The event has lured back New Zealand’s crème of the crop in the biggest ever field of surfers.
The Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver, Roxy and the WSL is part of the New Zealand Surf Series which comprises six events around the country. The event is also supported by Yeti. The event has a prize purse of over $12,000 plus prizes, not to mention the two sort-after wildcards.
Further Information
For further information on the 2026 the Backdoor King and Queen of the Point presented by Quiksilver, Roxy and the WSL, please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Ben Kennings on 0212278732 or benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
Imagery
High resolution action images of the surfing at the event will be available to media free of charge.
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Ends