Author: WSL

Current No. 1's Van Wagoner and Diaz Look to Stay Atop Rankings, Plus Local Contenders, Heavyweight Field In Attendance to Vie for Regional Title, First Call, Saturday, May 23 at 7:30 a.m. EDT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., USA (Friday, May 22, 2026) - The Coastal Edge Steel Pier Classic Presented by Katin, a men's and women's World Surf League (WSL) Regional Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) 1,000-level event, window opens tomorrow, May 23 through May 25 with North America's premier longboard talents in attendance. This marks the second and final stop of the 2025/2026 season to determine who qualifies for the 2026 WSL Longboard Tour, with recent Tour competitors and icons looking to find their way alongside those eyeing a rookie season. Virginia Beach's famed 1st Street Jetty will host the final showdown with local contenders ready to match up with some of the region's best.

Event organizers will convene at 7:30 a.m. EDT for a possible 8:00 a.m. start.

Current No. 1's Van Wagoner and Diaz Look to Stay Atop Rankings

Following the Surfing For Hope Longboard Classic, Jack Van Wagoner (USA) and Lia Diaz(CRC) lead the rankings heading into Virginia Beach. For Van Wagoner, it marked his second-career win on the LQS as he looks to requalify for the world's best after competing on the World Longboard Tour in 2024 and earning the Lexus US Open of Surfing wildcard in 2025 to remind the world of his class.

"VB is always a great event. I've had such a great time going out there. Sometimes the waves are small, but I've been out there when it's good, and hopefully we see some good waves this weekend," said Van Wagoner. "It'd be nice to let the surfing do the talking. It's super nice to have these two events now, one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking to hopefully get a win this weekend. I haven't gotten past a third there, so I'm hoping to do better and hopefully get a rematch against the boys. Anybody could easily take out the win, and we're all pushing each other, and we're all good enough to be on Tour, but this year I'm hoping I'm the one."

Van Wagoner will look to fend off the likes of back-to-back Finalists Cole Robbins (USA), Tony Silvagni(USA), and Kai McPhillips(USA) after their brilliant runs in Virginia Beach last year, and in Pismo to start the season.

An incredible moment for Costa Rica's Lia Diaz CRC) marked her first-ever LQS victory in her second WSL event. Diaz's poise and grace in the fun, yet chilling Pismo Beach conditions showed the region's best she had arrived to vie for a spot onto the WSL Longboard Tour. Now, the 21-year-old looks for more success and to hold her place as No. 1 to do just that, and join the world's best longboarders in pursuit of a World Longboard Title.

"[Winning in Pismo] was crazy. I had been getting a lot of seconds [in other events], and I knew my moment was going to come. And that win couldn't have come at a better time," said Diaz. "It was my second LQS ever and I was just so stoked. It'll be my first time going to the East Coast, and I've heard the waves can be tricky, but I'm really excited. I've been surfing some small waves to get ready before Pavones was going absolutely insane. But, where I live in Tamarindo, I was surfing some smaller waves and I've heard when Virginia Beach gets good it can get really fun."

"Qualifying for the WSL Longboard Tour is exciting and I've just been training harder, and it's something I've been the most focused on," added Diaz. "It's a little bit nerve-racking, but I saw Gabriela Bryan's interview and that the World Title race is not for hers to lose, but for her to win. So, that illuminated me and I'm leading the rankings, and I'm going there to win, not to lose it."

Local Contenders, Heavyweight Field In Attendance to Vie for Regional Title

After winning this event in 2025, Tony Silvagni (USA) showed he still had what it takes to earn wins against stacked fields and returned to the WSL Longboard Tour. But, a hard-fought season witnessed the Longboard Tour veteran fall back as he looks to requalify through the region, despite a Quarterfinal finish at the Surf Abu Dhabi Longboard Classic. Now, one of the most committed competitors, Silvagni, looks to bounce back and find his way back to the world's best for 2026/2027.

"I'm definitely hungrier than ever, and I want to have a big result at this event. And, coming in as the defending champ, makes me that much more eager to win," said Silvagni. "I want to get back on the World Longboard Tour, and with the qualification process I'm going to have to win this event. Just missing out in the Philippines by one spot hurt, but I was able to make it special with my engagement there so it all worked out. Virginia Beach has been a place that I've competed in for quite some time, and I'm quite comfortable there. I've been putting myself in tough conditions to prepare, and I actually enjoy that, and enjoy Virginia Beach every time I go."

A brilliant run for Virginia Beach's own Camden Hoover (USA) ended with a spot in the 2025 Finals. - WSL / Andrew Nichols

Plus, fellow defending event victor, Cash Hoover(USA), is back to play spoiler for the region's finest after her incredible win at the La Union International Pro, where she automatically qualified for the 2026/2027 WSL Longboard Tour. Now, one the sport's rising stars is back in Virginia Beach to keep her blades sharp and get more time in jersey among North America's top-tier talent pool that includes local contenders, and fellow Finalists in 2025, Camden Hoover (USA) and Story Martinez (USA), 2023 event winner Liv Stokes (USA), and WSL Longboard Tour requalification hopefuls Mia Ilagan (ASM), and Longboard Tour veteran Kaitlin Mikkelsen (USA). Now, Virginia Beach's own Camden Hoover looks for another Final in front of her hometown crowd.

"Making the Final last year was such a dream because it was my first LQS Final. To have it at home with all my friends and family around made it 1,000 times better," said Hoover. "I was honestly so stoked the whole day that I didn't care what happened. I've been competing at the Steel Pier Classic since I was four or five years old, and watching it grow from being ran by the Knight family to where it is now is so amazing. It was always lovely to have such incredible longboard talent come to my hometown, and I would meet the pros and just be in awe. Now that I'm older, I've developed friendships with them and had the pleasure of surfing with them. The event providing those opportunities has been a highlight of my surfing."

This event is proudly sponsored by Coastal Edge, Katin, and the City of Virginia Beach.