Matt Dunbar
Former Brazilian world champ, Italo Ferreira, has caused a sensational boil-over to take out the Tahiti Pro in all-time six to ten foot conditions at Teahupo’o, defeating event favorite John Florence in a high scoring final. Despite narrowly avoiding the mid-year cut and struggling to find form for the past two seasons, the Brazilian proved his heavy-water credentials yet again with a display that shocked the surfing world.
“I really wanted to win here. I’ve been winning but (in) different kind of waves, not barrels,” he said afterwards.
After a narrow win in a high-scoring tube shootout over Californian standout, Cole Houshmand in the Round of 16, Italo dropped a 9.83 and an 8.00 for another huge total to beat fellow countryman Yago Dora in the quarters. He got the better of Moroccan giant killer, Ramzi Boukhaim, in one of the few wave starved heats to progress to the final where he met John John Florence.
On the other side of the draw, fellow Brazilian Gabriel Medina was causing carnage as he put on the kind kind of performance only he is capable of. Up against Californian Jake Marshall, Medina put together what many, including former world tour surfer turned WSL commentator Michel Bourez were calling a perfect 20 out of 20 heat.
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Taking off deeper than anyone in the event, the 3x World Champ backed his lightning reflexes to outrun the Pacific power, ripping off pump after high-speed pump to make tube after tube. It was video game stuff. The Brazilian’s eyes appeared to be rolling back in his head at times as he made tubes at will, often for no other reason than the pure thrill of it. With two wins here, including one on debut, and six finals, he’s got the best record at this venue apart from Kelly Slater, and it’s not hard to see why. His knowledge of the reef is as good anyone on the planet, his positioning and read is equally peerless, while his quick twitch skill set and muscular athleticism couldn’t be more suited to the challenges posed by this wave.
After dominating his quarterfinal against Ryan Callinan, the heat the world had waited nearly a decade for materialized: Gabriel Medina vs John Florence at all-time Teahupo’o. The last time they’d met in conditions like this was back in 2016, when Medina dropped a perfect ten but John walked away with victory in what Kelly called one of the greatest heats he’d ever seen.
As their semi got under the way, the building long-period swell spluttered and forced a heat restart with no waves ridden in the first ten minutes. After engaging in a cat and mouse game for the inside, Medina won rights to the first set, as he so often does, only to find himself too deep. He didn’t die wondering, however, ripping off a record six pumps to outrun this Teahupo’o freight train. He came up millimeters short, riding across the foam ball and exiting the tube with one foot on the board before losing the handle and getting back slammed on the reef.
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John paid a price for engaging in the priority shenanigans as well, finding himself out of position as the second wave of the set – one of the best of the entire event – detonated and blew its guts out with no one inside. Undeterred, John dropped a 9.77 moments later for a deep, swooping, no-hands take off, before yanking his toe side rail so hard he was able to pull up and skim weightless across the foam ball for a miraculous make.
When Medina found himself too deep again and failed to exit, the ascendancy was with John. He used priority on a smaller inside wave for a solid back up of 8.23 and a strangle hold on the contest. Medina made things interesting with an inside nugget for an 8.33 to give himself a slender shot at victory with minutes remaining but it wasn’t enough.
Despite carrying all the momentum into the final, it got off to a disastrous start for John, who won the battle for the inside only to find himself too deep and off balance as he attempted to pump, no-hands, through a big west bowl chamber. A brief layback correction was enough to halt his down-the-line momentum and see him obliterated by the foam ball handing priority to Italo. Throughout the event, one slip up was enough to lose you most heats and Italo did not miss his opportunity to make John pay here.
Dunbar/WSL
On the very next wave, the Brazilian knifed a critical drop into an obscenely round, perfect, glassy orb for an 8.93 as John watched on from the inside. Italo kicked out to regain priority and knifed another perfect pit moments later from the deep, clipping the foam ball as he navigated multiple sections for an 8.77 and a huge lead.
John found an answer on a smaller wave, taking off deep and ripping off his signature superpowered no-hands backside pump to fly across over the foam ball for a 7.83. It left him requiring a near perfect 9.87 with ten minutes on the clock. Given the sheet glass conditions on offer and the amount of near perfect scores dropped in the past two days, it seemed very attainable and it very nearly happened as John found himself deep on the reef with one of the biggest, heaviest west bowls of the day bending towards him. A critical, no-hands drop was followed by a hard low line through a huge bowling section and across the foam ball. Steep, deep, high-risk drops had been rewarded with big numbers all event long but the severe bend on the wave robbed John of valuable tube time and the score came in just below the required 9.87 – a 9.33. That’s where it stayed.
Dunbar/WSL
Elsewhere throughout the event, there were upsets aplenty. The surfer in yellow coming into the event, Griffin Colapinto, continued his poor run of competitive form at Teahupo’o with a last-place finish. Having never placed better than 9th here, he once again lost out early, this time in the elimination round to local wildcard and Teahupo’o specialist Mihimana Braye. It was followed by another sensational boil over moments later as fellow top-five surfer, Jack Robinson, lost to training partner, Yago Dora, in what was the upset of the event.
After flying in the night prior to the event, Kelly Slater washed off the jet lag with another groundbreaking performance at the wave he has dominated like no other (winning it five times). The 52-year-old GOAT beat Jack Robinson and Ramzi Boukhaim to win his opening round heat, before dropping a near perfect 9.73, and a 4.73 on the buzzer, to beat world number four, Australian Ethan Ewing, in the round of 16. Up against Moroccan Ramzi Boukhaim in the quarters, he controlled the heat until the dying stages, when Ramzi took off deep and under the lip and rode over the foam ball for a miraculous make and a near perfect 9.8. The Moroccan’s performance was a breakout one and one of the best in the event, brimming with grit, raw emotion, and a courageous-albeit-unconventional-at-times approach to this harrowing Pacific slab.
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The tour now heads to El Salvador with Brisa Hennessy wearing yellow for the women and John Florence occupying the number one slot for the men.
Related: Vahine Fierro Wins Tahiti Pro in Historic, XL Conditions: ‘Best Waves of My Life’