Semifinalists in an epic day at MEO Pro Portugal – Surf
Supertubos offered, this Sunday, one of the most epic days of competition in recent times in our country, with the best surfers in the world responding positively to the balance between the swell and the other predominant elements of nature, with the supremacy of the wind. Tubes, tubes, of great potential broke for more than half the day. Then, the aerial ones entered as ramps, with the main candidates to take over, which ended with a note 10, the first of the championship and the circuit of the circuit in 2022. In the middle there was a lot of emotion, with a new male ranking already confirmed and with two surfers eyeing the female lead. A total of 23 heats in which Supertubos showed everything that could be needed, helping to perform at the highest level. This time, with the guarantee that it has returned to the natural order of world surfing, with no surprises in the mix and with the main names getting ahead in the fight for the stage and for the top of the rankings. For the fourth consecutive day of break, and still without any day since the start of the waiting window, there was no MEO Pro Portugal. This time, for real, after three less spectacular days, in which the sea made up the lives of most surfers.
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It all started with the result 7 of Frederico Morais, with the result of Frederico Morais, with the result of the best of the season. A single heat in the morning that maybe didn’t decide with tubes, but with Kikas’ power surf. After that, it was a real tube parade, with Supertubos showing itself to be consistent in terms of perfection, as we haven’t seen in this championship since, most likely, the 2011 edition, in which the tubes rolled big and three perfect during the historic days on end, until they crowned Adriano de Souza in a final against Kelly Slater.
Nat Young, with a wave of 9 points and a score of 15.60, was one of the first to shine, still the clock was at 8 o’clock on a sunny and appealing morning. John John Florence was another one who wasted no time getting into his technique to follow, easily advancing to the next round, while backstage Kelly Slater would die in the water and prove it too. Something he would do minutes later, closing the round with a beautiful barrel already in the house of the excellent, which earned him a hard-fought triumph against Caio Ibelli. Before that moment, it was Jackson Baker, Kolohe Andino and Griffin Colapinto that stood out, always with high scores.
Round 3 quickly came to an end, due to the option of overlapping heat, and the organization wasted no time in putting the men’s round of 16 in the water soon. While Slater beat Ibelli, Italo began his private show, to beat compatriot Miguel Pupo. But the best of the round was saved for heat 2, where Jordy Smith either passed the Peniche tubes, or he was the surfer in the competition who competed there the most times. A wave of 17.17 points, the South African added up to more than 8.17, a total of 17.34 points, a long-awaited duel in the quarter-finals against Italo.
From here the action cooled down a bit. First, because in the following heat Filipe Toledo secured the victory, due to an injury to rookie Jake Marshall, who was forced to leave the water. Then Conner Coffin and Callum Robson played a very busy heat, but with lower scores, as the tubes with exit began to run low. In heat 5, emotions changed, with Frederico Morais facing Kana Igarashi. All this, always combined with the efficiency of the overlay heat system.
Kikas was active and entered the heat strong, but Kanoa Igarashi showed the reason for being one of the contenders for the title, turning the heat in his favor on two occasions. There was disappointment on the beach with the Portuguese’s departure from the competition. As was the case later with the defeat, mainly strategic, of Kelly Slater against Griffin Colapinto. One that is already decided to guarantee the leadership of the ranking to the Japanese, who knows that he will make the wedding of the Australian yellow. This is because as soon as he reached the quarter-finals, only Kelly could surpass him in the rankings.
Among the disappointing results, the two are also a space of people even though they filled in the triumph of John, 1.1 h ahead, and the tube from John to Triumph, 1. tube from John to Triumph Baker, who was the last of the rookies to fall, still in the round of 16. Something very different from what happened in the first two stages of the year. In Supertubos there were no surprises. It was in this vein that the women’s quarter-finals headed to the water.
Also here as the main candidates for the title of regaining lost ground, forms the attempt to resolve the defeat of the leader of the ranking, Costa Rican Brisa Hennessy. Seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore showed she can intubate in style and beat Johanne Defay in the first women’s heat of the day, shaking off a lot of pressure from the cut she had on top. In the next heat, Lakey Peterson won the North American duel against Courtney Conlogue. Thus, the first women’s semi-final was found.
Carissa Moore then won the most anticipated heat of the round, against Australia’s Tyler Wright. Seven alternate titles in the water – five from the Hawaiian and two from the Australian –, in a duel that ended up falling to Moore’s side, despite Wright’s exercises in catching the biggest tubes. With 16.17 points, the world and Olympic champion secured the semi-finals and joined Peterson as the two surfers who can still aim for Brisa Hennessy’s lead. In the second semi-final Carissa will meet Brazilian and world runner-up Tatiana Weston-Webb, who is also recovering in the rankings, after beating a rookie India Robinson in a real lesson in female power surfing.
With the sea now smaller, but with the progressive waves of the stars still in evidence, they reached the height of being the men to appeal to passages to the semi-finals. And if the favorites took the normal order of operations, Brazil also returned to what we have become accustomed to in recent years: dominance. First with Italo Ferreira, then with Filipe Toledo. With the sea looking like it, Jordy and Conner Coffin ended up being both easy prey for the same technical repertoire of the two best Brazilian surfers on a Tour that is Gabriel Medina’s orphan. Both will contest the first-final, with the certainty that whoever wins the duel will be the great candidate to win this edition of MEO Pro Portugal. And if it’s Italo, he’ll do it for the third time in a row.
But the story of this epic journey didn’t end there. In the penultimate heat of the day, a duel of candidates, with John showing that the John Florence injury that affected him last season was already very long. The Hawaiian also put on a progressive surfing spectacle, with his trademark layback snaps, much to Kanoa Igarashi’s misfortune. The Japanese leaves Peniche at the top of the world rankings, but knows that heavy competition is already at the door.
When the pinnacle of action seemed overtaken, once the Americans’ last heat of the day took place, Kolohe Andino and Griffin Colapinto discussed the event’s outsider status, behold, magic. Despite having the heat dominated, Colapinto decided to think of a beautiful, stylish ramp to raise the bar even higher and fly high. This time, in time for the horn. A full version has already given a unanimous result and a perfection brush an amazing day. With 17.83 points, the young Californian left Andino on another day and still got the best score. What better way to close the party?
The action just doesn’t last because the sun has already fallen on the horizon and there was not enough time to crown the champions on this fat Sunday in Peniche, which deserved to have that crown. Epic conditions that will help define the eight surfers – four men and four women – who will fight for the final triumph in Supertubos, at a time when just over three hours of competition remain. On the male side, only Colapinto has never done it – neither in Portugal nor on the circuit. On the female side Carissa seems to have the target on her back.
The call is scheduled for 6:50 am on Monday. Even knowing that the sea will fall, the goal will be this the final day. With smaller waves, that’s for sure. But for sure this Sunday paid off for everything else. It had already been like that in 2009, after several days of storm and uncertainty, with the famous “magic Tuesday” and always, even, everyone keeping the circuit here permanently. Today history was made again. There are days that have the power to erase the entire image of an event that is left behind. This was one of them. And it will last a long time in memory. Not only for fans of world surfing, but also for the best surfers in the world, which cannot be praised as conditions during the flash interviews. Here come the finals!