Barron Mamiya
Barron Mamiya is an American professional surfer from Hawaii. He represents Hawaii on the World Surf League Championship Tour. Mamiya first competed in the Junior World Surf League in 2012 at age 11 and won the Men's Pro Junior Vans US Open of Surfing in 2018.
Biography
He was born and raised in the North Shore community of Haleiwa, Oahu, an island in Hawaii. He began surfing at the age of three, routinely paddling out with his father after work. Mamiya has referenced his love for the sport and lack of other options in Hawaii as being principal motivating factors in his pursuit of surfing.As a young surfer, Mamiya juggled the challenges of both being a young surfer "grom" in the state and the inherent dangers of surfing the islands' most popular, yet notoriously dangerous breaks. "Being a grom out there, surfing, it's hard, you don't catch a lot of waves … you've got to be fully committed, because if you're not … you can get super hurt".
Notwithstanding such difficulties, Mamiya flourished as a young surfer. He has continued to pursue a career in professional surfing, attributing his success to his perpetual hunger to push and prove his abilities to both himself and his peers.
Career
Since his entry into the Junior World Surf League in 2012 at age 11, Mamiya has established himself as "one of the most promising young surfers" in the world. His surfing stance is regular, and his specialities include aerial maneuvers and big-wave barrels.Junior Tour
Active on the Junior Tour since 2012, Mamiya "flourished" as a surfer in 2017, winning three WSL Junior Hawaii Pros. He was crowned champion in the Sunset Pro Junior, Papara Pro Junior Tahiti and Pipe Pro Junior while claiming the runner-up position in the Hurley Surf Club Pro Junior. He managed an average of 13.72 in per heat and 4.28 per wave over the four competitions.Mamiya backed these performances with similarly strong results in 2018, placing in the top three of each event he competed in. He placed third in the Sunset Pro Junior, was runner-up in both the HYSDO Pro Junior at Turtle Bay Resort and Pipe Pro Junior and won the Men's Jr. Vans US Open of Surfing. He averaged a score of 12.18 per heat and 3.55 per wave over the four competitions.
Men's Qualifying Tour (QT)
Mamiya has also been active in the Qualifying Tour competition since 2015. While only competing in three events over the 2015 and 2016 seasons, 2017 saw a significant rise in Mamiya's involvement. In 2017 he began to achieve greater results in competitions such as: Sunset Open, Papara Pro Open Tahiti and the Vans World Cup. These achievements improved his ranking heading into the 2018 season in which he competed in eight events, with his career best result coming at the Burton Automotive Pro in Australia, where he finished second to Mikey Wright in the final. His most recent qualifying tour event, the Sunset Open in Hawaii, resulted in fourth place in late January 2018. Mamiya was knocked out by fellow Hawaii local, Billy Kemper.Men's Championship Tour
In May 2018, Mamiya gained entry into the first event on the Championship Tour with a wild-card allocation into the Men's Corona Bali Protected event. He was granted entry after the withdrawal of American surfer Kelly Slater.Prior to the event, in an interview with Michael Ciaramella from Stab magazine, Mamiya stated that he felt "no pressure at all" and appreciated the opportunity to express himself free from the usual weight of expectation. His inclusion in this event reflects his growing influence in the surfing world.
He came away in 25th place and managed an average heat score of 7.06 and average wave score of 2.82. His inclusion in the Bali Protected gave him the ranking of equal 44th in the current Men's Championship rankings.
Mamiya's first major highlight in the CT was in 2022 when he won the second stage of the year, the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach, beating Kanoa Igarashi in the final. He finished the season in 16th place.
Mamiya didn't have a standout year in 2023, finishing in 12th place. In 2024, in the first event of the year, he made history. For the first time in his career he won the Lexus Pipe Pro, the most classic stage of the CT, defeating John John Florence in the final in an epic confrontation. After this result he had a modest year and was in 14th place.
In the 2025 season, Mamiya made history once again, defending the champion title against Leonardo Fioravanti at Pipe, joining a select group of multi-champions at Pipeline.