Alright, I may have been a little hard on the Founders’ Cup. It was a unique event that definitely created plenty of buzz and fanfare, but I just had some problems with a few pieces of the process. At the end of the day, we did get to see every active world champion compete and lots of really cool single-wave performances. Sure, there’s still plenty to iron out moving forward and it was a little more confusing than it probably needed to be — enough so that I forgot about Sunday’s third run in my column — but no new event debuts perfectly. The technology is great and should only get better.
Alright, I may have been a little hard on the Founders’ Cup. It was a unique event that definitely created plenty of buzz and fanfare, but I just had some problems with a few pieces of the process. At the end of the day, we did get to see every active world champion compete and lots of really cool single-wave performances. Sure, there’s still plenty to iron out moving forward and it was a little more confusing than it probably needed to be — enough so that I forgot about Sunday’s third run in my column — but no new event debuts perfectly. The technology is great and should only get better.
With that being said, I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to the actual ocean with traditional heats this week as the Championship Tour resumes at the Oi Rio Pro in Brazil. It seems like it’s been quite a layoff for the CT, but that’s mostly because our last image was the cancellation of the Margaret River Pro. But prior to that, it has been more than a month since Italo Ferreira and Stephanie Gilmore rang the bell at Bell’s Beach. Gilmore holds the yellow jersey on the women’s side after two complete events, while Ferreira and Julian Wilson share the points lead on the men’s side.
Rio isn’t always everyone’s favorite event. Kelly Slater has become a perennial no-show for the contest of late and despite competing just days ago at the Founders’ Cup, he won’t be in Rio once again. It doesn’t impact the draw much, but it is a bit of a letdown to have just seen Mick Fanning and Slater in California and know neither will be in Saquarema. However, it does give some of the other hopefuls increased visibility and an opportunity they have rightfully earned to this point of the season.
At least one full third of the men’s field will be competing in their home nation, with 12 Brazilians already in the draw with one wild card still to be named. That’s certainly in keeping with the “Brazilian storm” tag line they have been promoting the past few seasons. Ferreira is obviously the highest ranked of that group but Gabriel Medina, Filipe Toledo and Adriano de Souza are all within the top 10.
Sebastian Zietz and Ezekiel Lau will open up in the same trio as the pair of Hawaii surfers will go against one another and Ace Buchan in their three-man heat. John John Florence will again see his early nemesis as he is matched up with Mikey Wright, as well as Joan Duru. Keanu Asing will take on Ferreira and Connor O’Leary in his opening heat.
On the women’s side, this will be the first event that Tatiana Weston-Webb will be competing under the Brazilian flag. She should certainly receive a warm welcoming from the home crowd when she begins in round one against Johanne Defay and Keely Andrew.
Malia Manuel will be going up against points leader Gilmore, as well as a wild card who will earn her way into the field in the coming days.
Coco Ho gets started in the first heat of the event against Sally Fitzgibbons and Nikki Van Dijk.
It’s already early May, but we’ve essentially only completed two contests to this point. This middle portion of the season typically feels like the time most surfers either make their move up the ladder or settle into a less threatening position. This year is a little different because of Margaret River, so there is still plenty of opportunity to make big moves. Rio is as good a place as any for that to happen when the waiting period opens on Friday.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
