Rio Pro 2024: Finals Day
Rio Pro 2024: Finals Day
Itauna was cleaner last night, yet paradoxically harder to surf for most of the day.
Of the four men's Quarter-Finals, three of the winning scores just reached double figures with the losing scores unable to reach that very low bar. Only Yago Dora in the Quarters was able to manufacture something excellent with a long wall that offered up four big turn sections. His opponent, John Florence, surfed a good heat. His 11.27 heat total would have won every other Quarter - effectively he was beaten by the best wave of the Quarters.
John throwing spray to the horizon in the Quarters (WSL/Smorigo)
This wave is no good for airs and extremely difficult to do turns on. It's no D-bah for example. In 2019, the entire Snapper comp was held there due to a lack of sand on the points. With wedges and an air wind, Medina and Italo were able to land so many big airs in heats they made the accompanying air show completely redundant and it ain't been seen since.
By contrast, in the Quarters at Itauna there were a total of 88 waves ridden (53 men, 35 women) and zero big airs. I may have missed one, feel free to point out any errors, but the point still stands. This ain't a high performance showcase. Some people dig the relatability factor. I don't understand that argument at all. I want to see a showcase of surfers at the elite level, not the equivalent of backyard footy.
The crowd, of course, went completely nuts. Medina went berserk and rode 12 waves in his losing Quarter against Griff, for a pair of mid-4s but the crowd enjoyed every single one of those rides.
If Medina cannot find a 5-point score in 12 rides in thirty minutes then thats all I need to know about surf quality.
Friday in Itauna (WSL/Diz)
Nonetheless, it was Finals Day and a winner had to be crowned. An egg and spoon race would have sufficed but this is a Championship Tour event so we stuck with the surfing.
Sawyer, as predicted, was strong through her Quarter with Caz Marks. Caz found nothing but Lindblad netted a 7.83 for the win. That was her best heat of Finals Day, despite making it all the way to the Final with Caity Simmers. Two fours in her Semi with Tati was enough to get through and in the Final against Simmers she could only manage a 2.83 as her best ride.
That's a tricky one for the coach to debrief later. The constant refrain from modern sports psychobabble is the result doesn't matter, it's all about the process and the performance. How then do you square a second place finish, 7,800 points and $USD 63,000 in prizemoney when, apart from one wave, your performance was objectively terrible? Take the 7.83 out of the equation and Sawyer's scoring rides were 3.23, 4.67, 4.27, 0.43 and 2.83. That would not get you out of a local boardriders heat here.
Caity on the inside as Luana drops into a bigger wave outside (WSL/Smorigo)
Caity wasn't brilliant either. Her two rides in the Final were very generously scored. No blame on the judges, they were obviously suffering low-scoring fatigue. Any clean makes must have offered tremendous relief. A clean turn and a closeout hit in Caity's case was enough for them to go close to excellent. Caity Simmers, at 18 and a High School graduate with a whole career in front of her is absolutely flying. 6,000 points ahead of Caz Marks with almost two months off to prepare for Cloudbreak and then a few weeks to get ready for Trestles. A luxurious amount of time to hone her preparation, or just chill at home like a normal teenager and surf the local.
I should mention the high point of women's performance on Finals Day which was Tati's 8 for a big vertical spike on a set wave and a few clean turns in her Quarter against a hapless Brisa Hennesey. That was as good as it got.
The two eventual men's Brazilian Finalists cranked it right up in the Semis. Just after Jesse Mendes said Italo was going to catch a lot of waves he launched a clean backside rotation for a 9.00. He followed that up with a clean layback slice and monster floater for a 7.60 and the Semi against Griff was won before the halfway mark on the strength of three rides.
All contest, Italo treated heats like freesurfs racking up impressive wave counts and stacking the odds in his favour (WSL/Smorigo)
Dora wasn't quite so efficient, needing eight waves to get on top of Jordy. They swapped strong rides in improving surf and sat pretty tight until six minutes to go when Dora dropped the aerial hammer on Jordy with a high 7 and finished off with a blistering two turner for a 9.33.
The crowd was huge for the Finals. 50,000 on the beach? More..? An all Brazilian Final, no controversy to suck the air out of the room, just pure celebration for the crowd on the beach.
The final itself was a bit of a dud. Italo's best ride a 7 for a scrappy two-air combo with an excessive amount of pumping in between. Dora could not find another open left and ended up with the standard two 5s. From being in danger of getting dumped at Margarets, Italo's win rockets him into the Final Five, displacing Ewing into 5th position with Jordy now 7th despite the Semi-Final finish.
Very, very tight back there. Ewing looks the most vulnerable with Cloudbreak, a backhand tuberiding and turns event, next on the schedule.
Mercifully, our collective discomfort is over for another year. A delighted crowd sees it completely differently.
// STEVE SHEARER
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Women’s Final Results:
1 - Caitlin Simmers (USA) 15.50
2 - Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 3.26
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Men’s Final Results:
1 - Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.67
2 - Yago Dora (BRA) 10.60
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Women’s Semfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 8.94 DEF. Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 4.16
HEAT 2: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 12.74 DEF. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 12.40
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Men’s Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 16.60 DEF. Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.27
HEAT 2: Yago Dora (BRA) 17.30 DEF. Jordy Smith (RSA) 14.23
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Men’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 10.03 DEF. Connor O'Leary (JPN) 5.90
HEAT 2: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 10.07 DEF. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 9.44
HEAT 3: Yago Dora (BRA) 16.00 DEF. John John Florence (HAW) 11.27
HEAT 4: Jordy Smith (RSA) 10.00 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 9.73
VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Women’s Quarterfinal Results:
HEAT 1: Sawyer Lindblad (USA) 11.06 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 5.60
HEAT 2: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 15.77 DEF. Brisa Hennessy (CRC) 6.43
HEAT 3: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 12.77 DEF. Luana Silva (BRA) 5.67
HEAT 4: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 10.57 DEF. Molly Picklum (AUS) 8.93
Comments
“An egg and spoon race would have sufficed but this is a Championship Tour event so we stuck with the surfing.”
Brutal
my exact same first thought. FR always gets the good stuff on paper, but that really shone.
A few meters from the contest...
Barrinha!
Just wait for the videos...
So was that consistently happening down there?
I am not even sure that right hand bank was the one from years ago in the other corner under the church. During the contest, a right hand bank was visible next to the contest area. I was wondering if someone was going to surf it in the comp.
Good write up Steve.
Can't see any of the girls challenging Caity and Marks for the title.
The men's feels more open despite John's lead. Hard to see him getting beaten across 3 heats but there's some dangerous surfers below who could get on a roll. Even EE if he makes it, cloudbreak will be his preliminary final.
If the articles weren't on SN, I wouldn't have known this event even happened. Literally no-one talking about it in the surf, or anywhere.
Ditto Sprout .
Zero interest in Brazilian surfers or Brazil surf contests or Brazilian waves .
Was there a WSL comp on?............
Your bias toward the points just south of there showing through Mike
Mythological stories senor Rubicon . Tiny rocks and ancient giant armadillos mostly
A city of 7 million throws up thousands of spectators to a free event , wsl on fire
Did Nymar make an appearance?
Mythology no doubt, but firmly based in reality. Fat wide boards on sepia green right points, and more dentally oriented soccer stars than Nymar...and, of course, the all night masseurs of ambiguous gender. Those poor Greeks had nothing on you for providing fodder for myth tellers
Paradoxical comment, which is neither true or false. "Zero interest" would imply zero reading (and commenting) in an article about Brazilian surfers, Brazil surf contest and Brazilian waves. "Close to zero interest" would have broken the paradox and brought coherency, logically speaking.
Fair call.
I read mostly everything Steve puts up regardless of topic base
The tour has completely lost momentum. Well at least for myself.
Apart from a couple of surfers, results since El Sal mean 2/10 of F all.
Second last event leading into the tour’s showpiece* and eventual champion that has all the allure and entertainment of an old bloke chasing tailor down the local beachie.
The women have held most of my interest this year, however now that you can scrape into finals day with complete mediocrity tells me something is very off with the format.
I know I need to take a positive pill but even surfing at the Olympics feels contrived. Just as the gold medal for soccer, golf and tennis; where the ultimate prize is not in that arena.
Thanks Steve for putting your hand down surfing’s equivalent of a blocked septic pipe for us.
* Cloudbreak will likely eclipse Trestles for prestige and excitement
But "the momentum is real" right? haha
Salute #1 swellnet for dedicated Wake Up Calls & Comp Wrap.
WSL Dream Brew Tour shapes up Dream Finish for the Big end of Town Disney Drama.
Here's wot we saw play out before our eyes...
Booth calls for more Americana Gear Drama
Pros fuelling their own Slip'n'slide Red Bull Skate Rink Last man Standing Bradbury Bonanza!
Stoking a Brazo Goofs default dream run home!
Thirty work dreamin' up this WSL Brazo Diva Drama!
By hook or by crook the wheels fall off as Dream Tour nervously skates home on thinner ice!
Be a sin for Judges to reward real surfing on a Dream Tour.
Blood is still thicker than Red Bull isn't it?
Another WSL Disneyland dream ending is shaping up...if fans Bay for Blood ya give them Wings.
(amazing live throw to them fagin urchins outside the studio, TBB ; ) by hook or by crook.. like the one way or another earworm the skids singer won't let go of, despite the cool hooks. "the music is played, but the monkey dances to its own tune":
ASP – (dynamic vision): “The world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves”
WSL – (pragmatic balance): “A lot of the world's best surfers, either in the world's best waves or at the world’s most enthusiastic locales.”
Same-same? Like Wil Anderson says, I'm convinced. Blondie/Skids; it's just fun for the kids.
I don't think JJF will win at Trestles, even though I think he's the best surfer. My pick would be Italo or Griff as a roughie, that's if he doesn't choke, which he probably will. I also find it funny that apparently he needs hours of mediation because he doesn't strike me as a bloke that has too much going on upstairs.
I disagree. John merely needs to surf ordinarily to his capacity. Nothing special. The #1 guy (unofficially) gets a 3 to 4 point buffer from the judges (based on past experience). It appears the only way to lose is to really mess up, like Carissa did, two years in a row.
In years past, John John would've been crowned world champ today. What do people think about that? The year would be over before cloudbreak. Kinda makes the final 5 something to look forward to...
It's a point, but in the 'years past' scenario, everyone woulda gone yay!, brazil woulda loved it, Italo & Yago taking out the event, and they like JJF; massive beach crowd and champ vibes fer all.. cloudbreak will be great regardless, any surfer would love to win it.. the only pointless thing would be trestles.. so the whole *format is purely to accommodate that cool-as climax.
Disagree with this argument, because I suspect (can't prove) that the best guys are less desperate to win in every event because they just need consistent solid results throughout the year to make the final five.
When we had proper title races it was rarely a blow out, but since they brought in finals it's a blow out every year (Toledo on multiple occasions and JJF).
just a few minutes down the beach...
Smoking.
where have we gone, stuck with one move wave..and country pull.. literally apple pie without the apples..
Happy to see sawyer make the final even if there was a lot of luck involved. Not sure how much of a holiday caity gets. Won’t she be straight back off to Tahiti for Olympics
an egg and spoon race would have sufficed lol. the wsl must cringe so hard every time you publish another well written article.
7 out of the last 10 years have been won by Brazilian surfers. (and a decent share of Aussie runners-up, to be fair).
Is there any other event with such a pronounced ‘home ground’ advantage? Serious question.
Is that reflected anywhere else on tour?
Levels of negativity once again at Leroy inducing levels. Fellas, I just love to come here and piss in your glass half empty. It fills me up everytime. Love that, yeeuusss...
Didn't watch much of the contest. Bad timeslot for W.A. This working all the time business has got to go! Bad for your health, you'll never see a health warning but..... shockingly bad all the same.
Bits of the contest I did watch were great. Its an entirely different cultural context and cool to see surf culture in its various forms. Crowd noise off the scale, and despite the average quality of the waves the Brazos never exuded anything less than total enthusiasm. Brazilian contingent can act like total babies but no sign of it, just froth and stoke.. nice. Well done Italo. But yep, if it was pumping Id probably watch more. Good waves a kind of currency for sure.
Stu, if your reading it's about time Leroy got his own column. I promise to only speak in the third person and swear very occasionally
. I'll use a spell check and look to free ride for advice. Nice walk through the intertidal the other day Mr Shearer..
Leroys got big fucken plans Stuey. Big fucken plans that require a degree of ridicule. Could be perfect.
Scathing of venue and performances, with much logic. Another great write-up Steve, good stuff. Best part of the comp is reading your stories. Keep them coming. PS - While the venue sucks in terms of overall performances, as you have described, I still love the way the Brazil crowd gets so into it, their passion and how the surfers are introduced to the crowd, gladiator like.
wtf? Yago was given a 9.33 for one standard turn and one JJF imitation turn?
5 points for the fact he found a actual wave that looked surfable,
something someone might actually choose to surf and 4.33 for his turns. Seems fair to me.
Totally deserved. Found the rare rough diamond and destroyed it.
FWIW I thought Gabe got the score on that last wave of the heat.
Just to be clear, Yago got two 9s. A 9.17 against John, fully deserved, when he did about 5 sick turns on a long runner. But then in the semi he got a 9.33 for two turns.
Righty-o then, I only saw the heat against John-John.
At 2:30, Teahupo superman tamed by Saquarema. Challenging tube or merely complacency? The heat lost right there.
?si=S8jSRgEIRtsNkM_2&t=150The most exciting aspect of this comp was the fact you had no idea what score the judges would throw out after each wave. Farkin all over the place
Mr Shearer,
Any chance you could serve up a Olympics preview. Please please.
Thanks in advance
Lost
U tried to be wsl positive Steve - lasted a day - yesterday.
I do appreciate ur write ups. Always some interesting insight or observation …
… I’m one of those who doesn’t mind seeing them go around in less than perfect waves from time to time and with the whole brazo beach madness - 50,000 people is a lot - thing, there’s enough going on to make it interesting
Cheers
There's no more interesting and beautiful surfer to watch in the WSL (everywhere!) than Caitlin.
I don't think since 1989 (Tom Curren), in the modern era, that we had someone so advanced in the combination of style and technique.
Italo is clearly back on the juice
Juice or no juice I think we can clearly say Italo is a confidence guy. He's either all on or all off. Firing or over tweaked.
It was clear that the Olympic surfers Medina, JJF, Cola, Smith were not as willing to risk injury going for big airs. Italo and Yago not in the Olympics took advantage.
Wsl wont leave Brazil with crowds like that.........
Yeah I see it the same way. The place was buzzing.
What a shithouse event. Steve, your write up is the limit of my engagement. WSL of course will love the crowd shots and will use them forever in their marketing pitches to future sponsors. Core surfers won’t give a shit. They got the result they needed though, the Wozzle would have been shitting themselves about a zero-Brazzo top five. Bring on Fiji.
How to withdraw frozen accounts from the Cloud bank depository
Crew Salute Steve's insane insight for being on the Money come the Business end of the Tour.
Top 5 Surf Off Heat Draw is too hot to handle...
Steve : " Do I really wanna see a Goat butting heads with Top 5 Aussies in a Brazo Cloudbank!"
Maybe not exactly that...but Steve alludes to GOAT power rearranging Larry's Deckchairs!
Subterfuge forecast of Kelly's Top 5 Cloudbank seeding...burns a hole in any ideal lineup.
Just poppin' over to sample Larry's Tropical Blend...nothin' suss!...
Oops..another Reef Sacrifice! Did I do that...too bad so sad for the hopes'n'dreams of Powerhouses!
https://www.swellnet.com/news/form-guide/2024/01/16/wsl-season-overview-...
Cloudbank Matriarch Teller foretells of looming Aussie Hot Shot recession.
Cloudbank Seeder Larry googles a Rain Bomb Cash Splash over Teen Brazil.
Top 5 Surf Off Seeding Calculations depend on 2 variables
Gulp! (Might wanna get Steve to run over this or flatten it like a pancake...to make it official like!)
* Base Seed Points ( Based on "Previous CT Season" / Wildcards / Replacements )
CT surfer is deducted 25% BSP from first 1-4 comps until....5th comp 0% Cut line...
* CT Seed Points = Sum of Base Seed Points + Current CT Rank Points earned in 'regular' season!
Brackets Formula
From above #1 (vs) Last > #2 vs 2nd Last etc so on & so on...
The Winner of Each Sides Heats 1-8 (vs) 9-16 can only meet the Finals
WSL seeding Heat distribution and organization are supervised (Stacked) Manually! (Not via a Hat)
The weight of each Variable at Stake is Subjective, like that WSL Airy Fairy Judging Format...(cough!)
2024 Top 5 Brazo + GOAT Wild Card Variables throw a spanner in the works...
Brazo Champs coming and going + CS Blowins (vs) WSL Hired Hit Mangoatchildtorpedoabomination
Chinese Pacific Cable Cloud Bank Manager Larry is Googling his Top 5 ideal Algorithmic Blowin LineUp.
Computa says it's countin' on Durr Aussie eHarmony Kommissar's face off to Break the News.
https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/a-comprehensive-guide-to-seeding-cal...
So! Steve reckon's ya can't peep until the night before...gonna need a mix tape to see us thru...
Free Hodad hardknocks Lesson for Gromz on how to wear ya Retro Kasberga '70's Sunnies like a real man!
Final 5 Brazo offshore Cloudbanking Theme Tunes rorted in this order...
&t=5sSome people can really organise a big show, 50,000 partying creates great atmosphere; emotion and social interconections.
Elsewhere this show could be Kaos or
or....in some internet future, just an vivid AI generated fantasy show for Control?
Would you believe that Maxwell Smart wasn’t Brazilian, and 99 would have looked good in the 50000 crowd
That crowd is way too happy!