Indonesian Wildcard Makes Filipe Toledo Tweet That Today Was The “Worst Day Of His Life”

It was a wholesome day of competitive surfing at Barra de la Cruz.

There was a bit of everything: back-and-fourth duels, upsets and last minute heroics. It’s as if we forgot how exciting WSL surfing can be after the Ranch. But on this lovely day at one of Oaxaca’s best sand-bottom point breaks, competitors were greeted with with super rippable waves underneath the blazing Mexican sun – nothing resembling the The Search event of ’06 but very, very fun, nevertheless.

The day started with the Elimination Rounds for both men and women. 

Nothing noteworthy here: local wildcards Regina Pioli and Shelby Detmers lost on the Women’s side; while Diego Cadena and Jhony Corzo lost on the Men’s, alongside Connor O’Leary and Alex Ribeiro.

Medina against Michel Bourez was the first heat of Round 3. Gabe started with a 7, but soon was put against the ropes when the Tahitian found the best barrel of the day to clinch an 8. Medina looked a little out of character, perhaps slightly rattled by all the controversy back home surrounding his Covid-19 vaccination status. But in the end, on a smallish wave, he managed to pull and land a Rodeo/Gorkin Flip kinda-thing and follow it up with 39 snaps that got him the 7.5 he needed to turn the heat around.

Ethan Ewing showed what you’d expect from him in a freesurf clip – this time, however, it was finally in a CT heat. He surfed with power and style and flow. It was super pleasing on the eye, and deservingly the highest heat total of the day. Matt McGillivray never stood a chance. 

Heat 3 saw Kolohe take on Kanoa Igarashi in quite an entertaining duel. They went back and forth and traded 6’s. Towards the end Andino smashed a little runner for a 7.4 and that was that. This has major implications for Kanoa, who was sitting at 6^th on the WSL Rakings. He’ll need a strong result at Chopes to keep his dreams of making the Finals Day alive.

Morgan Cibilic continued his unforeseen 2021 dream run and took out wildcard Lucca Mesinas without a sweat. He waited patiently when necessary, then unloaded when the steep walls presented themselves. The Aussie sits at 4^th in the rankings. Not to jinx the kid, but if he keeps this momentum for a few more heats, we will see him at Trestles come September as a rookie. Huge.

With the tide change, the next heats were very slow. Leo Fioravanti only surfed two waves in his 45-minute encounter with Owen Wright (they ran overlapping heats) – but it was all he needed to send the Olympic Bronze Medalist packing.

Jeremy Flores gave the interview of the event (so far) after his narrow win over Ryan Callinan – whose backside continues to be one of the best in the biz. Jeremy thanked his fans, haters and all the WSL crew. He praised Kelly’s stamina and criticized his own unhealthy choices, but not without letting everyone know that he’s leaving the Tour on his own terms. “I can still beat everyone on a good day,” he said. Touché.

The next heat saw the biggest upset of the contest, if not the year. Event favorite Filipe Toledo somehow failed to find a back up score in 45 minutes against Balinese wildcard and Olympian, Rio Waida. Rio started with a high 5 – which could’ve been higher if he hadn’t misplaced a wrapping turn that prevented him from finishing strongly. With 11 minutes to go, Toledo finally pulled the trigger and destroyed a set wave from start to finish, looking unbeatable. But it was too late. Time ticked by and with less than a minute to go, Waida caught a medium runner needing a meager 4.40. He even looked back mid-wave to see Filipe waveless, and hopeless, in the lineup. He just had to finish the wave to get the score.

And finish he did, sending Toledo home in what was his event to win. “This is the worst day of my life,” tweeted Toledo, shortly after surfing perfect Mexico with one other guy out all morning. While he’s still sitting in third place in the rankings and has a big cushion point-wise, depending on how things unravel, this result could have implications for the Top 5. Can you imagine a Finals Day, at Trestles of all places, without Toledo?

New commentator, Mitchell Salazar, sure can’t. He professed his love for Filipe before accusing Italo of making up excuses for his poor results at The Ranch. I wonder how long he’ll last – perhaps he’s too opinionated for the WSL? I could do without the Spanish lessons, though.

Moving on, Jack Robbo and Caio Ibelli’s matchup was next and it didn’t disappoint. Caio came in hot from a great first round performance, but Robbo took the lead and looked fast and loose. Ibelli got one last chance, but couldn’t do much on a mediocre wave. After having a go on on Taj’s SITD winning board that he nicked from Joyride test pilot, Stace Galbraith, Jack decided to go ahead and order an entire quiver of them. They look wonderful beneath his feet.

Next, Frederico Morais chose the best waves and beat Peterson Crisanto, while Yago Dora beat Mikey Wright by the thinnest of margins: 12.80 vs 12.10 – in what could have been Mikey’s last heat as a WT competitor, unless he gets one last wildcard for the Tahiti comp.

Wade Carmichael gave World Champ and Gold Medalist Italo Ferreira a run for his money. The Aussie powerhouse stuck to his guns, laid it on the rail and came very close to upsetting Ferreira – and if he’d held the Champ off his last wave, when he had priority to do so, the result would’ve been different.

Kelly, of course, surfed beautifully. His Slater Designs FRK model seemed like an extension of his busted feet. The GOAT laid down power hacks, karate chops, wrapping turns and even found a small barrel. Pupo surfed well, but Slater was in sync. In the post-heat interview, he showed how invested he still is in this competitive surfing thing. “If I win here and I win Tahiti, then I have a realistic chance of making the Top 5,” he said, to Kaipo’s surprise.

It’s truly baffling how well the dude is surfing at 49 – and that he’s still thinking about World Titles.  

Jadson André, who won his Elimination Round heat earlier, was all smiles after beating Seth Moniz. “It’s been a while since I’ve won two heats on the same day.”

The final heat of the day was another upset. World number 5, Griffin Colapinto, lost to Brazil’s next big hope, Mateus Herdy. The wildcard didn’t give the Californian an inch. In every exchange, Herdy’s waves were scored a little better. Colapinto, like Igarashi, will most likely slip out of the Top 5 before Teahupo’o. 

The forecast looks good, with no lay days in sight. Kelly promised Italo a hard heat for their Round of 16 encounter. After watching the Olympics from afar, could he been the one to spoil Italo’s momentum?

Mens Elimination Round Results

Heat One: Peterson Crisanto (14.33) DEF Kanoa Igarashi (13.66) DEF Diego Cadena (10.37)

Heat Two: Deivid Silva (10.44) DEF Yago Dora (9.33) DEF Jhony Corzo (7.93)

Heat Three: Jadson Andre (10.84) DEF Adriano de Souza (9.07) DEF Alex Ribeiro (7.57)

Heat Four: Seth Moniz (15.37) DEF Matthew McGillivray (11.87) DEF Connor O’Leary (8.67)

Men’s Round 3 Results

Heat One: Gabriel Medina (14.50) DEF Michel Bourez (13.70)

Heat Two: Ethan Ewing (18.07) DEF Matt McGillivray (9.33)

Heat Three: Kolohe Andino (14.07) DEF Kanoa Igarashi (13.43)

Heat Four: Deivid Silva (13.73) DEF Adriano de Souza (12.63)

Heat Five: Morgan Cibilic (15.04) DEF Lucca Mesinas (9.67)

Heat Six: Leo Fioravanti (13.37) DEF Owen Wright (9.87)

Heat Seven: Conner Coffin (11.33) DEF Ace Buchan (8.33)

Heat Eight: Jez Flores (13.73) DEF Ryan Callinan (13.17)

Heat Nine: Rio Waida (11.33) DEF Filipe Toledo (10.23)

Heat Ten: Jack Robinson (12.24) DEF Caio Ibelli (10.80)

Heat Eleven: Frederico Morais (13.74) DEF Peterson Crisanto (12.44)

Heat Twelve: Yago Dora (12.80) DEF Mikey Wright (12.10)

Heat Thirteen: Italo Ferreira (14.00) DEF Wade Carmichael (13.30)

Heat Fourteen: Kelly Slater (14.60) DEF Miguel Pupo (12.50)

Heat Fifteen: Jadson Andre (13.33) DEF Seth Moniz (11.17)

Heat Sixteen: Mateus Herdy (14.50) DEF Griffin Colapinto (13.80)

Round Of 16

Heat One: Gabriel Medina vs Ethan Ewing

Heat Two: Kolohe Andino vs Deivid Silva

Heat Three: Morgan Cibilic vs Leo Fioravanti

Heat Four: Conner Coffin vs Jeremy Flores

Heat Five: Rio Waida vs Jack Robinson

Heat Six: Frederico Morais vs Yago Dora

Heat Seven: Italo Ferreira vs Kelly Slater

Heat Eight: Jadson Andre vs Mateus Herdy

Women’s Elimination Round Results

Heat One: Isabella Nichols (13.20) DEF Macy Callaghan (11.86) DEF Regina Piolo (8.07)

Heat Two: Sage Erickson (13.67) DEF Keely Andrew (11.50) DEF Shelby Detmers (9.50)

Women’s Round 3

Heat One: Johanne Defay vs Brisa Hennessy

Heat Two: Caroline Marks vs Malia Manuel

Heat Three: Sally Fitzgibbons vs Macy Callaghan

Heat Four: Courtney Conologue vs Keely Andrew

Heat Five: Carissa Moore vs Silvana Lima

Heat Six: Tyler Wright vs Isabella Nichols

Heat Seven: Tatiana Weston-Webb vs Sage Erickson

Heat Eight: Stephanie Gilmore vs Bronte Macaulay