Untold El Salvadorean Illnesses And Thoughts Of Going Right At Teahupo’o

In a recent interview with us, Kanoa Igarashi explained that he had some very complicated emotions to process prior to his FInals Day heat — which may have affected his performance.

In his latest RedBull film, he dives into just about every moment that led him to that Finals Day. Though it’s hard not to draw Make Or Break comparisons here, CHAPTERS II is actually quite unique in its aspiration to explore one surfer’s entire season exhaustively. It’s great, and though we already knew Kanoa is possibly the tour’s most well-rounded competitor (multilingual, Olympic silver medalist, Dior ambassador, etc) this gives us a new perspective on his emotional intelligence through the course of a CT year.

In it, he talks losing to wildcard Mick Fanning as the world #1, being secretly ill for his rivalry heat with Griffin Colapinto, and getting the wave of his life to secure his spot ahead of Griff at Lowers.

“I would’ve gone right if one came to me!” exclaimed a smiling Kanoa, after E-Lo informed him of his Finals Day qualification in the Chopes channel.

For you competitive geeks, there’s also some compelling looks into how top-tier surf coach Tommy Whit interacts with his surfers. Hard to imagine coaching two superstars like Griff and Kanoa in the same heat.

Enjoy.