How Do The World’s Best Surfers Deal With A Devastating Loss?

Whether you’re a seven-time World Champ or the Land of the Rising Sun’s brightest star, getting handed a heaping pile of defeat is all part of the game on the Championship Tour.

Sometimes it just comes down to who’s lucky enough to get the waves. That whole bit about anybody being able to beat anybody else on a given day is largely true — except when it’s not and talent wins the day. But you get the point. 

To swipe one of those classic sports cliches, the true mark of a champion is how they deal with adversity. Steph Gilmore didn’t win seven world titles by acing every single heat she surfed in. There have been highs and lows. There have been times when injury or self-doubt seemed too much of a hole to climb out of. It’s her ability to pick herself up and march ever forward that has led her to the sport’s pinnacle. 

And for somebody like Kanoa Igarashi, who’s had to absorb the slings and arrows of critics, doubters, and the peanut gallery, he’s able to harness the negativity and thrive off of it. It’s turned him into a potent force in a world where some weren’t sure he belonged just a few short years ago.

The new Red Bull drop, “All In: Dealing With Defeat” shares Steph and Kanoa’s story in all the stinging details.