Forget your turns, forget your carves, it was all about the barrel for finals day at the Rio Pro. They weren’t showing up for everyone, but Friday’s theme was essentially “get the barrel, get the score.”
That’s not always the theme that best suits Filipe Toledo, but he was fully up to the task on this day, mowing through a tough field on his way to his second career Rio Pro championship. Toledo, the most highly touted of the Brazilian Storm to have not yet won a world title, completely dominated his final heat against Aussie Wade Carmichael to earn the win in front of a raucous home crowd at Saquarema. It brings Toledo up into second place for the season, behind only Julian Wilson, whom he defeated in the semifinal round.
Maybe the best ride of the contest occurred in the final as Toledo was on his way to a one-sided win. Early in the heat, Toledo dropped in and began racing down the line like few can. Nothing was developing yet, but he was simply getting into position. He arrived at the perfect moment and got super deep as the barrel began to crest around him. It truly was a thing of beauty as Toledo disappeared and rode through perfectly, coming out of the crashing wave in the only possible section with a clear look of defiant victory on his face. The only thing probably louder than the closing out wave was the collective exuberance of his supporters.
Carmichael was comboed for basically the entire heat as Toledo went on to a 17.10 to 8.00 win to get the hero’s treatment up the beach. It carries him seven spots up the leaderboard into second place, just 1,340 points behind Wilson for the yellow jersey.
The biggest leap up the rankings was Ezekiel Lau, whose semifinal run moved him from 18th up into sixth place for the season.
Lau is one of just seven competitors to reach two quarterfinal rounds this year, after his fifth place at Bells Beach.
Those types of results can certainly help take the pressure off later in the year and one or two more finals day showings should eliminate any re-qualification worries.
Amazingly, one person who has still yet to even reach a quarterfinal round is John John Florence, who was knocked out in round four at Rio. Despite falling in that three-man elimination heat, the ninth-place result was still Florence’s best of the season. The two-time defending world champ moves up from 26th to 17th heading to Bali.
Sebastian Zietz also lost in round four, as he remains tied with Florence in 17th for the season.
Though I like the new structure and making sure those three-man heats are more meaningful than the previous format, it still stings just a little bit more to see someone knocked out in that fashion.
The women’s event ran through its heats earlier than the men’s and Stephanie Gilmore grabbed a much more commanding points lead for the season with her very first Rio Pro victory. Gilmore topped Lakey Peterson in the final for her second win of the year.
Tatiana Weston-Webb’s semifinal showing bumps her up into third for the season.
