This Is Filipe Toledo’s First Surf In Two Months:

No doubt you’ll remember Filipe Toledo going down on an air-reverse in the semifinals of the Quiksilver Pro, Snapper, and surfacing with a pained expression. “When I was landing the wave came up under the board,” said Filly after the heat. “All the pressure made my leg go up and sideways. I’m not dying at all. I’m just feeling a lot of pain. I tweaked all my groin.”

Here’s a sight we’ve missed. Mercy!

Said groin tweak caused Filipe to miss Bells Beach and Margaret River, slipping to equal 18th on the World Tour Rankings (heartbreaking for the kid, since he looked unstoppable at Snapper). For a while there, it was even unclear whether he’d show up to Rio. But clarity lands today in the form of these images: Filipe’s first surf back after two months out of the water.

High spirits? How could they not be during first surf in two months?

“Filipe arrived in Brazil yesterday and he wasn’t even gonna surf,” explains the man who captured these images (read: screengrabs) at Ubatuba, Rafael Calsinski. “But when he saw a couple of ramps, he was out there. You could see he wasn’t pushing it 100 percent, it was his first session after the injury, but he was ripping! Surfing super loose and fast. He was doing pretty much all his moves, air reverses and such – but was also surfing heaps on the rail, really pushing his turns – which was great to see. No one could believe he was surfing so well on his first sesh in almost two months. He’s back, he’s gonna be on fire in Rio.”

What’s that mean? Nothing but good things for anyone watching the webcast or screaming through the sea of green and yellow from the beach. Most likely at Grumari.

No signs of a handbrake (aka groin tweak).