Yeah, we know: Brazil’s Saquarema is not one of the world’s best waves.
But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t seen some of the world’s best surfing during the last few years.
The WSL just curated all of the 9-point + rides from the last 3 years at the Rio Pro, and we gotta say: It’s impressive stuff.
From Filipe Toledo’s backside full rotation 10 pointer in the 2021 final (which is still arguably one of the best ever done), to his 9.93 spitting slab the following year, Toledo is a highlight machine in Brazil. When you add-in the high scoring rides from John Florence, Steph Gilmore and Kelly Slater (among others) from that same period, you get a dizzying highlight reel from Rio that’ll have you re-thinking your feelings about the upcoming comp.
Sure, the forecast is looking fairly average (again), but that doesn’t mean Toledo, Colapinto, Ferreira, Florence and co won’t put on a show. Low-key, some of the most high-performance surfing of the year happens every year in Rio.
And we expect that trend will continue.
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