Adriano De Souza wins the Oi Rio Pro
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro/BRAZIL) - Adriano de Souza (BRA) claimed a passionate victory today at the fourth stop on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the Oi Rio Pro presented by Corona, after besting Adrian Buchan (AUS) in six-to-eight foot (2 - 2.5 metre) conditions at Praia de Itaúna in Saquarema.
2015 WSL Champion De Souza will now move up to second place on the Jeep Leaderboard, just 350 points behind World No. 1 John John Florence (HAW), heading into Fiji. De Souza’s win today is his seventh victory on the elite Championship Tour and second win in his home country of Brazil.
“It has been a while since I have stepped onto the podium,” De Souza said. “But, I have been working for so long to be here. I am so grateful for all the support, especially all the fans here in Brazil. You can count on me because I am back in the game.”
De Souza looked in fantastic form throughout this event with wins in every heat leading up to the Final. The Brazilian has been one to watch throughout the Australian leg and today’s win in Saquarema strengthens his World Title campaign with his best result of the 2017 season.
2015 WSL Champion Adriano de Souza dropped a near-perfect 9.80 in today's Final (Photo WSL / Smorigo)
The final witnessed Buchan and De Souza battle in a game of tactics and precision for the win. De Souza got to an early lead with two 7-point rides, forcing Buchan to seek out a 9.50 (out of a possible 10). The Australian answered with a near-perfect 9.20, but still needed a second score to combat the Brazilian with ten minutes left on the clock. Under Buchan’s priority, De Souza improved his situation with a critical 9.80 to increase his lead. Buchan hunted the lineup and made a final attempt, but the score fell just short of the 8.44 that was required, leaving the Brazilian with priority and the win.
Buchan now climbs to 12th on the Jeep Leaderboard after sitting in the 24th position going into this event. The runner-up result marks the Australian’s best finish of the 2017 season and first Finals appearance since 2013, when he won in Tahiti. Buchan has had a slow start to the year with one 25th place finish and two 13th places finishes, but his new ranking proves that he is back in the mix this season.
“I’ve really enjoyed myself here in Saquarema,” said Buchan. “I think the surfing we’ve seen in the last ten days has been incredible and has shown the world that Brazil has great waves and incredible surfers. Brazilians do beach culture better than everyone else. I am looking forward to coming back next year. It was really special to have a Final with Adriano [de Souza]. He is an amazing role model for all the young Brazilian surfers and I just want to say a huge congratulations to him. ”
Runner-up Adrian Buchan earned his best result of the season and will now vault to 12th on the Jeep Leaderboard (Photo WSL / Poullenot)
Event wildcard Yago Dora (BRA) wreaked havoc at this event with major wins over three WSL Champions, Mick Fanning (AUS), Gabriel Medina (BRA) and Florence, but met his match in the first Semifinal against eventual winner De Souza. The all-Brazilian match-up saw an intense clash between the veteran and the newcomer as both surfers battled for control. De Souza locked in a near-perfect 9.57 and an 8.40 to set the pace and put Dora in a difficult situation, unable to battle back. In his career-first CT event, Dora will leave determined to qualify for the elite tour in 2018 after his amazing 3rd place finish.
“I want to get on tour next year,” Dora said. “I am learning a lot at this event and it is helping my confidence. I feel like I am more ready with every heat. Both Gabriel Medina and Mick Fanning are my idols and to beat them is amazing.”
Event wildcard Yago Dora took down three WSL Champions to earn a 3rd place finish at his first-ever Championship Tour event (Photo WSL / Smorigo)
Matt Wilkinson (AUS) had a great run at the Oi Rio Pro, but will exit with a 3rd place result after losing to Buchan in the second Semifinal. Wilkinson previously dispatched Owen Wright (AUS) in the Quarterfinals and Kanoa Igarashi (USA) in Round 5 en route to his second Semifinal of 2017. Wilkinson will now move up from 9th to 5th on the Jeep Rankings.
De Souza previously took down 2012 WSL Champion Joel Parkinson (AUS) in the Quarterfinals. Parkinson’s Equal 5th place result will move him up to 6th on the Jeep Leaderboard.
Smith will remain at No. 2 on the Jeep Leaderboard despite failing to make it out of his Quarterfinal matchup against Buchan and closes the gap on Florence with just 350 points between them. Smith has been in great form all season, especially with his recent win at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, but will need to post another top result in order to claim the coveted Jeep Leader Jersey.
Australians Wright and Fanning were eliminated in the Quarterfinals by Wilkinson and Dora, respectively. Wright will remain in Equal 2nd on the rankings and will look to reclaim the Jeep Leader Jersey in Fiji, where he earned the historic Perfect 20 and win in 2015. Three-time WSL Champion Fanning moves up from 19th to 12th with his second Quarterfinal berth of the season.
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Final Results:
1 - Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.63
2 - Adrian Buchan (AUS) 17.23
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.97 def. Yago Dora (BRA) 11.97
SF 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.97 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 11.60
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 18.50 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.00
QF 2: Yago Dora (BRA) 12.44 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.34
QF 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.37 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.47
QF 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 17.23 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 14.70
Oi Rio Pro Men’s Round 5 Results:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.00 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 14.16
Heat 2: Yago Dora (BRA) 15.67 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.83
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.70 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 5.13
Heat 4: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.33 def. Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 12.97
2017 WSL Men’s Jeep Leaderboard (After Oi Rio Pro):
1 - John John Florence (HAW) 24,750 points
2 - Jordy Smith (ZAF) 24,400 points
2 - Adriano de Souza (BRA) 24,400 points
2 - Owen Wright (AUS) 24,400 points
5 - Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16,750 points
Comments
Overall, it was a pretty good contest in arguably pretty contestable waves.
Ads deserved the win.
That Yago Dora is one to keep watching, that Medina heat was awesome, he never lost his cool.
Congrats to Adriano on the win, thoroughly deserved. I thought the waves were terrible with the backwash and sections but maybe they just looked that way on the WSL telecast, which I thought was deplorable, bad angles and bad, bad commentary.
6-8 ft???? not in those pics
Contest 10+ - for Brazil - commentary 0. Fire Kaipo the guy is really annoying as a commentator but maybe we just do it differently in OZ. If anybody ever goes to the US you will know what I mean. Sports is the pits over there.
I guess I agree with Zen that overall it wasn't a bad contest, but I found myself doing other things while it was on and watching a few minutes of highlights the next day. With no volume.
We need a Richie Benaud style commentator...less is more.
Imagine watching a heat winning 10 pt wave from start to end with just a simple "Marvellous" at the end as they got spit out of the barrel...
It wasn't the best contest I have seen but hey they ended up with a bit of swell and a close final - stoked to see Ace in the mix. Hows the "scale adjustment" couldn't follow that ....
Are you guys serious?
I admit i only watched the early rounds but i thought it was terrible, wonky average beaches that looked frustrating to surf.
I actually thought the old venue waves were better, sure they were shorter and often closed out but they had better shape when they didn't and there was barrel opportunity's.
This comp is easily the worse comp on tour, i stopped watching one because it was boring and two i didn't want to give the WSL more viewers.
I'm generally not one for wave size arguments but 6/8 ft, cmon..
someone please put a bullet in this comp.
I love ADS. He froths SO hard and surfs every wave like it's the last wave he'll ever surf. I admire his absolute animal instinct and aggressive surf style. I like that he focuses and wants to win,win WIN!
And he's an underdog. Genuine Favela.
Not one to comment on conests as a rule, but why does a wave surfed in the most predictable, mundane fashion score a 9+? Unless an air or long barrel is involved, I fail to see how such a score can be awarded. This type of surfing is hardly worthy of a final - every T, D or H on the tour can do it.
I disagree, if you can't see how hard Ace and ADS were ripping, and how the flow and timing required to make it look easy on that kind of wave are at the elite level, then I have to say you are a poor judge of good surfing.
Yeah, dunno if you can throw around the insult of "poor judge of surfing". On the webcast Pottz estimated Adriano's winning wave "might better his 7.83". The wave came in at 9.80. So nearly 2 whole points off what a past world champ, full time commentator, and someone who's arguably seen more surfing heats than anyone else judged the wave as.
I thought the whole comp was a snorefest. I can appreciate how hard those waves are to surf but when watching the best surfers in the world I don't want to manipulate myself into enjoyment. Let them grind it out on the QS, the CT is for transcendent performances.
Even though Pottz is a former champ etc. I think his commentary particularly on scoring is absolutely biased and usually way off. Compared to Ace's 9.2, ADS's wave had to go higher I thought.
Fair call, but I have to say when I watched ADS 9.80 live I thought it should be scored as it was, those 2 backhand reo's he reeled off in a row as it hit the inside bank were flawless and worthy of the score alone in my opinion.
ADS was ripping, his rail game has become a thing of beauty, less convinced on other aspects of his surfing and his style is debatable but his timing on the backhand reo's was impeccable. Reckon the waves for the final were sick, doesn't make it a good spot, but that bank was firing and i would have frothed to be out there (that's a pretty simple way to judge of you think the waves were good or not)
Just watched the Yago v meds and I reckon meds was ripped off. That straight air was massive (or missive if your are in NZ) Yago did the reverse nowhere near as high. Dane always said the straight airs are the hardest to do and that wa a rippa and I am not a meds fan.
Yes and no Mem. It was a huge air no doubt but as we've seen time and time again, Medina has used that tactic in desperation to get through a heat to great success. Medinas air got the single highest heat score but imo Yago outsurfed him the whole heat. His final air wasn't as highly scored as Medinas but it was still a pretty good effort and enough to regain the lead and take the heat.
It was Yagos heat I reckon and he earned it with complete surfing rather than a one-trick hail Mary.
(and I make it no secret I'm not a Medina fan- one of the ugliest styles on tour imo)
Yeah I have no doubt you and Stu are correct I shot from the hip too quick after reading the way the WSL were selling it on there wrap on their app as if this was the decider and Yago's wave was scored higher. Learn't a lesson there.
Was thinking the same when I saw it; Meds was definitely bigger and a harder air to do, and on a bigger wave too.
But putting objectivity aside for a moment, Dora surfed a more comprehensive heat and deserved the win.
I think too much weight is given to the hail-Mary air. It frustrates me when, which is becoming common place, a surfer who has surfed a complete heat with a variety of moves according to the criteria, is beaten at the buzzer by an all-or-nothing trick (not a functional manoeuvre- airs rarely help you get down the line) .
Of course there's an argument to the contrary in terms of progression, but when you see the obviously better surfer in that situation bested by one move- it's hard to justify sometimes.
Good luck telling any of them apart. How they pick a winner from all that rabid flailing is anybody's guess.
I must be getting too old and irrelevant, but when I watched both the Dora and DeSouza "hail mary air" wave, I was thinking what a waste of the wave, Parko, Wilko, Wright would have hacked that to pieces beautifully. Luckily, my opinion counts for f all.