Rio Pro 2024: Day One

Look, Brazil is not for us.

Not for the fan, no matter how casual or fanatical, to watch online.

It's for the people who show up to watch live. They come for the spectacle, the event, the festival atmosphere. To see and be seen, to get close to the big stars.

Itauna beach scenes (WSL/Diz)

We can't be blamed for an indifferent attitude. We've simply followed the lead from our surf stars over the years, principally Robert Kelly Slater who seemed to suffer all manner of ailments as Brazil approached, causing him to be marked absent more often than not. I can't find the actual stats but if Kelly showed up to more than 50% of the Brazilian events during his time on tour I will be shocked. If the world's best find it an unappealing prospect, then for everyone else viewing online it's an experience memorably described by Brazilian scribe Julio Adler as a “mild discomfort”.

There is a sense of schadenfreude in seeing pros reduced to kooks by weird, wobbly, flat-faced sections riven by backwash. The bogged rail, the flubbed turn, the over-the-handlebars wipeout going for a closeout reo into a backwashy section. There was a ton of that stuff on display last night. No finer example than in the last heat of the day, conducted under a glorious sunset and the constant thudding of a thousand soccer balls being kept aloft by fit, beautiful people.

Barron Mamiya, an absolute stud and current Pipe Master who can make ten-foot Pipeline look like a summer shorey needed a 4-something to close out the heat against Liam O'Brien, another full blown hellman. The last ten minutes was comical. Barron stumbling and falling and generally kooking it to the max. We weren't privvy to the internal dialogue but it would've made a sailor blush. He finally jagged a little left with a series of soft sections which he surfed so carefully, so deliberately, it looked like an intermediate surfer trying to remember the YouTube tutorial he just watched. In the end it came to naught, a little fins-free drift on the closing section occurred just as the backwash hit it and he spun out of control for a 3-point ride.

LOB, a man who just showed the world he can wrangle foamballs at the heaviest wave on the planet responded by riding the heat-winning wave as delicately as a kitten. He turned flat and tapped the lip for an extremely generously-scored 5.83 and the W.

That was the day, that will be the comp. The collective consciousness of the surf world all wants this to be done and dusted as soon as possible so we can get back to Teahupoo for the Olympics and then onto Cloudbreak.

The one turn Barron made, on the only wave succesfully ridden, during his Elimination Round heat against LOB (WSL/Rodrigo)

Tyler Wright was a no show with a foot injury. We'll take that at face value but note Tyler has a poor attendance record in Brazil (though not as bad as Slater) and sitting in tenth spot, 10,000 points behind fifth-placed Johanne Defay, looks to have conceded a run for the Final Five and be concentrating on the Olympics.

No excellent rides for the women today. Only two for the men which speaks to the surf quality. The best of the women's surfing was Caity Simmers with a 7.17 in her Elimination Heat against wildcard Taina Hinckel after a thoroughly disinterested Round 1 performance. That wave is worth watching (it's the first shown in the condensed heat replay) for the incredibly smooth combination from top turn to grab-rail bottom turn to closeout hit. Everything else was very meh for the day.

Perhaps sensing what was at stake, Caity tossed stilted tactics out the window and surfed to the conditions (WSL/Rodrigo)

Of the current Final Fivers, Caity, Caz, Brisa, and Molly got through. Defay axed. That will likely see Gabby Bryan or Tatiana Weston-Webb through but my intuition is a breakout win and result for Sawyer Lindblad. Her chunky, low slung power turns seem to suit the wobbly faces better than any other goofyfoot with a very good closeout hit seemingly unperturbed by the Itauna backwash.

Sawyer Lindblad absorbing the reverb during an off the top (WSL/Rodrigo)

Two excellent rides from the men's side of the draw: One from Gabe Medina in Heat 6 of the Opening Round, after an opening air and spicy combo of turns, and the other from Crosby Colapinto in the following heat after a turn and huge vertical hit on the closeout. If you watch one heat for the day, watch that one. Italo going beserk with a million attempts, Crosby going big and LOB surfing smooth and radical but unable to decipher the backwash puzzle.

You may as well watch JJF's Elimination Round win over Joao Chianca while you're there. Really solid backside bottom turns from John even if the backwash got him a few times off the top.

John clean off the top, above, and sharing a moment with Joao, below, following their Elimiation Round heat (WSL/Rodrigo, Diz)

All three Brazilians sitting just outside the five made their Opening Round heats. But so did Jordy and Ethan, the ones most vulnerable to a rearguard attack. Still, ominous signs for those two. Gabe, Italo, and Yago will all employ an air game and after judges made it crystal clear they won't go excellent in the Americas unless you go above the lip it's a clear advantage to the chasing Brazilians.

Despite a home-crowd advantage, Brazil hasn't been a fruitful stop for Gabriel. He's never made a Final here, his best finish being third, in both 2013 and 2016, but a good result is crucial if he's to make Final Five (WSL/Rodrigo)

Crappy surf is a great equaliser. Would we be seeing much difference in performance at the QS level here? I doubt it.

Still, Brazilian surfing demands and deserves its contest at the CT level. Tourism funding dictates the B-grade venue, as it does in El Salvador. In an alternate universe we would see our American leg held in Mexico and Chile.

The crowd will enjoy the festival, root for the locals doing the big airs. We will silently hurry them along and wait to see the results.

// STEVE SHEARER

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Women’s Opening Round Results:
HEAT 1: Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 11.77 DEF. Johanne Defay (FRA) 10.60, Molly Picklum (AUS) 7.00
HEAT 2: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 9.66 DEF. Taina Hinckel (BRA) 5.67, Caitlin Simmers (USA) 5.30
HEAT 3: Caroline Marks (USA) 11.67 DEF. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 5.26, Sophia Medina (BRA) 4.83
HEAT 4: Luana Silva (BRA) 11.16 DEF. Brisa Hennessy (CRC) 9.70, Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 9.30
 
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Men’s Opening Round Results:
HEAT 1: Ethan Ewing (AUS) 12.87 DEF. Connor O'Leary (JPN) 8.83, Cole Houshmand (USA) 7.50
HEAT 2: Seth Moniz (HAW) 12.40 DEF. Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 11.30, Griffin Colapinto (USA) 7.70
HEAT 3: Jack Robinson (AUS) 12.87 DEF. Ryan Callinan (AUS) 11.23, Samuel Pupo (BRA) 8.30
HEAT 4: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 10.30 DEF. Joao Chianca (BRA) 10.27, John John Florence (HAW) 8.10
HEAT 5: Jordy Smith (RSA) 10.40 DEF. Barron Mamiya (HAW) 10.10, Imaikalani deVault (HAW) 7.17
HEAT 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.93 DEF. Rio Waida (INA) 12.60, Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 6.87
HEAT 7: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 14.50 DEF. Crosby Colapinto (USA) 13.94, Liam O'Brien (AUS) 8.50
HEAT 8: Yago Dora (BRA) 13.60 DEF. Matthew McGillivray (RSA) 11.33, Jake Marshall (USA) 7.73

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Women’s Elimination Round Results:
HEAT 1: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 12.50 DEF. Taina Hinckel (BRA) 12.00
HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) 12.23 DEF. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 6.90
HEAT 3: Brisa Hennessy (CRC) 8.50 DEF. Sophia Medina (BRA) 6.60
HEAT 4: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 10.84 DEF. Johanne Defay (FRA) 4.06

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Men’s Elimination Round Results (Heats 1 - 4):
HEAT 1: John John Florence (HAW) 12.34 DEF. Joao Chianca (BRA) 7.13
HEAT 2: Rio Waida (INA) 12.70 DEF. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 11.07
HEAT 3: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 12.50 DEF. Samuel Pupo (BRA) 11.97
HEAT 4: Liam O'Brien (AUS) 10.66 DEF. Barron Mamiya (HAW) 7.50

Editor's postscript: Though there was no mention of R'Cal in the recap, he was held to second place by Jack Robinson, this photo is a worthy inclusion.