A lot can change in a year. Just a smidge less than 365 days ago, current world #1 Joao “Chumbinho” Chianca paddled in from his Round of 32 loss at Margaret River absolutely devasted. Not only was he ousted from the event by fellow Brazilian Italo Ferriera, but his brief ‘CT campaign as a 2022 rookie was suddenly over. He didn’t make the mid-year cut.
Fast forward 52 weeks and Chianca is now sitting pretty at number 1 on the Jeep Leaderboard, with two semi-final finishes under his arm and a 1st place trophy from the MEO Rip Curl Portugal Pro displayed on his mantle. To find out how Chianca went from being on the mid-year chopping block to wearing the yellow jersey and making a run for a spot in the WSL Finals and the 2024 Olympics, we called up the young Brazilian the night before the start of the Marg’s contest window to have a chat about his inspiring 180:
How’s West Oz treating you so far?
West Oz is so amazing. I love everything about this region. It’s so exciting coming back here. It feels like a second home—it’s one of my favorite places on Tour and one of the only places I think I could live. The waves are so good. We got two days of perfect waves already.
Has the Box been firing or have you mainly been at Main Break?
I’ve been practicing a lot at Main Break. I surfed the Box for the first time today. I had a couple of good waves and then had a gnarly wipeout and nearly died [laughs].
No way.
I lost all my fins on the rocks and blew my tail out. I don’t know how it happened. But everything is okay; I didn’t cut or bruise myself or anything.
Ryan Craig
Oh, good. With the event getting started here soon, what’s it like sitting with the yellow jersey now? How are you feeling?
Having the yellow jersey is something so new to me. I’ve just been trying to have fun every single day, living day by day and trying hard to get ready for each event. But not to impress anyone because I’m doing this for the love of surfing. I’m just trying to find the balance between the really serious commitment that competitive surfing brings and the fun part of just scoring waves during the heat. Having the yellow jersey is a huge phase of my career and I’m just so grateful to be in this situation right now. Looking back one year ago, I was in a totally different spot, being knocked off the Tour and now I’m at the top of the rankings.
That’s quite the 180. Do you feel like something has changed for you this year?
Definitely. Being knocked off Tour and having to struggle with your emotions and what you feel at the moment—it’s a mix of embarrassment, shame and all those things crashing in front of you. It’s really disappointing and hard for an athlete. But going through those things made me way stronger than I was I guess. I saw what the Tour could do to a person and how the Tour is, which is so hard. It’s way gnarlier than it looks and way gnarlier than the ‘QS.
In what ways?
In terms of pressure, expectations, the commitment that the other athletes bring and the environment inside of the event site, for example. Like no one is there to play around. People are there to send you to the elimination round or to beat you. Definitely the experience of 2022 and being knocked out—that’s a game-changer for someone. It’s either going to crush you or it’s going to make you way better than you are.
Ryan Craig
Did you know for sure you wanted to go back to the Challenger Series after that loss at Margaret’s last year?
After being knocked off the Tour it took me like 2 months to be good with myself and to go, ‘Ok you know what, let’s do this.’ I realized I didn’t need 5 perfect events and that I could do it with 2 finals.
Did the fact that you fell off Tour last year make you nervous heading into this year? Or did you feel like, “ok the worst has happened to me, I can deal with it whatever happens”?
It was a little of both. There were so many expectations. When I made my way back to the Tour so quickly in one year, things never really got easy on me. I was kind of second-guessing myself—like can I do this again? Can I surf like I did against John at Bells last year? Can I surf as well as I did against Italo? But I just moved those thoughts out of my mind. I decided to be tough and put aside any negative thoughts and weaknesses. Coming to Hawaii this year I was pretty confident in myself.
Talk me through how you were feeling after your win in Portugal this year—going from not making the mid-year cut in 2022 to topping the podium just a couple of events into 2023, that must’ve been an awesome feeling.
Definitely, Portugal was a special one. I woke up that day hoping that they would run all the heats and really not worrying at all about the number of heats I needed to make. They were the conditions that I love and conditions similar to what I surf at home. I loved to get beach break barrels at home. And having all the Brazilian and Portuguese fans on the beach, that all gave me so much momentum through the heats. Even if I was having a hard time, I never really felt that [the pressure] on my shoulders. I was really just having fun in my heats getting barreled. Finishing that day with a first-place trophy and looking out to that crowd at sunset with perfect offshore barrels in the background was probably the happiest moment of my life.
Ryan Craig
Where in Brazil did you grow up?
I was born in Rio de Janeiro but all of my family is in Saquarema.
You’re a bit younger than Filipe and Medina and all those guys—did you grow up idolizing them?
Yeah definitely. Gabriel, Filipe and Italo, it’s hard not to look up to those guys. Those guys are heroes. It’s funny to compete against them right now. You have to almost put the respect aside for 30 minutes during heats and once you get out of the water you respect them again. But in the water, you’ve got to be tough because they’re going to bring the gnarliest game.
Has anyone been giving you guidance on how to approach the Tour or each event?
Miguel Pupo and Filipe have been like true heroes to me inside and outside of the water. They are amazing. Not just as surfers, but as people—they’ve been helping me a lot.
What about your brother? Does he give you advice?
We’ve always been close with Lucas [big-wave legend Lucas Chianca] and we have been even closer the past two years since I’ve been on the Tour and he’s done incredible stuff in big-wave surfing. I’ve always looked up to him as a person, he’s such an incredible guy. I love him so much. When I got knocked off Tour, I was super bummed and we went to Tahiti so I could surf Teahupo’o for the first time. It was incredible—it was a huge help and a recharge for me to just be surfing perfect waves with my big brother like we used to do when there was no ‘QS or ‘CT in our minds.
Ryan Craig
Any plans to charge massive waves alongside him?
I’m not really interested in surfing giant waves like that with Lucas [laughs]. I think our favorite thing to do is chase big barrels—Teahupo’o or Pipeline. No Maverick’s or Jaws—maybe a tow sesh at Jaws one day.
I’m sure everyone is asking you about this since you’ve got the yellow jersey, but do you have your eye on a world title this year?
Mmmm, not yet. I really think I have so much room to improve right now. I want to enjoy what I’m living right now and I want to gain the experience that I’m living right now and the opportunity that I have tomorrow. I’m sure if the time comes and I have a solid shot, I’m going to go for it. But right now I’m not thinking about it.