The Billabong Pro Pipeline kicked off the Championship Tour for the third time this year, but while anticipation for the event was high, the waves failed to deliver to near the standard of which we know they are capable. The pumping, heavy Pipe which is, in the eyes of many, the best wave in the world, was a notable absentee, replaced by barrels marginally over head high for much of the event window, and stimulating discussion about whether the WSL should have greater flexibility to manoeuvre the dates of a competition if conditions don’t deliver. Alas, they stuck fat with the dates they had scheduled, and though it was far from the best incarnation of this event we’ve seen, there was still plenty to talk about in its wake. This is how the men’s edition of the event went down.
The Event
Opening Round
After a couple of days of virtually unsurfable conditions and with nothing too exciting to come on the horizon, the 2023 Championship Tour kicked off on the 1st of February with an Opening Round which saw only a handful of surfers crack double-figure totals in their heats. Leading the way were Brazilian duo of Miguel Pupo and Joao Chianca, who in the first couple of heats managed 12.5 or higher, while the others to do it were Nat Young, Jake Marshall, Caio Ibelli, Jordy Smith, and to no one’s surprise, both Gabriel Medina and John John Florence in the final heat of the round. As was the case last season, this is a non-elimination round with the top two in each heat heading to the Round of 32 and the other going to the Elimination Round; few big names failed to finish in the top two, with Kanoa Igarashi the most notable exception.
Elimination Round
Igarashi quickly made his way to the Round of 32 where he belongs in a first heat which saw Joshua Moniz, another member of the legendary Hawaiian Moniz family, the first surfer of the year eliminated. Another local, Imaikalani deVault, was next to go, before first Matthew McGillivray and then Jadson Andre were sent packing to conclude the round.
Round of 32
After those early rounds were completed, a week passed before conditions perked up sufficiently to warrant the continuation of the contest. When it did, scores again remained modest, albeit a little better than they were seven days prior. Italo Ferreira was a surprise elimination in the first round of the heat, before Jordy Smith showed that, a couple of days out from his 35th birthday, he’s still got it, putting together a 13.00-point heat total to knock out fellow veteran Nat Young.
In a big year for Griffin Colapinto, he too suffered an early exit at the hands of Leo Fiorivanti, as did Ethan Ewing as he attempts to consolidate on his massive improvement last season. A few heats later, the prospects of Kelly Slater repeating his extraordinary win from last year were dashed when he was knocked out in a low scoring heat by Yago Dora. The round ended with six impressive victories by Rio Waida, Joao Chianca, Jack Robinson, Gabriel Medina, John John Florence and Miguel Pupo, each of whom scored in the top handful of heat totals in the event to that point.
Round of 16
Jordy Smith continued on his merry way in the Round of 16, putting together a 13.5 – which would be the second highest score of the round – to knock out local Ian Gentil. The next few heats were relatively uneventful, with scores of around 10 generally enough for victory, but with three of the favourites for the event in Robinson, Medina and Florence to compete in the final two heats, it was always going to end with a bang.
Medina and Robinson went toe-to-toe in the seventh heat of the round, with little separating them throughout the heat. Medina’s 6.73 would be the highest wave of the heat, but with an average back-up score, he eventually went down 11.5-10.4, bringing to an end his run of three consecutive finals at the event.
Then it was John John’s turn. His heat didn’t have much excitement as a contest, but for pure surfing it was the best of the event by a long way. The North Shore local reminded everyone why he’s arguably the best surfer in history at this break, pulling off a couple of absurd exits en route to a 19.33 heat total; by far the best score of the event.
Quarterfinals
Florence was clearly the man to beat and his heat against Robinson loomed as the match-up of the quarters, but there were three other heats to get through first. The first of them was a thriller, with Fiorivanti just nudging out the impressive Smith with an 11.00-10.76 win. Caio Ibelli then destroyed Aussie Liam O’Brien 15.83-7.70 before Chianca nudged out Toledo in an all-Brazilian heat, bringing us the match-up we’d all been waiting for.
Florence and Robinson were perhaps the two favourites to win the event at this point, and it showed, with an impressive display by both of them seeing them put up the second and third highest scores of the round. When the bell rang, it was Robinson in front 13.84-12.87, securing a huge win as he attempts to establish himself as potentially the best in the business this year.
Semi-Finals
After a slow start to the event, Fiorivanti had been gradually improving as it went on, albeit without setting the world on fire, and that continued in the semis. He was solid without being spectacular, managing a 12.00 heat total, but again that was enough to see him through against Ibelli, who managed just 7.57.
Having beaten Florence, Robinson was the nominal favourite to win the contest, but he had to get through an impressive Chianca to have a chance. He did. In a similar heat to that in a couple of rounds prior which saw him beat Medina, Robinson scratched his way to an 11.67, enough to edge out Chianca’s 9.93 and earn him a spot in the first final of the year.
The Final
Though Fiorivanti had been surfing solidly throughout the contest, Robinson’s best had clearly been better, and the regard in which he’s held at Pipe meant he was the pick to take this one out in the eyes of most. He didn’t have it all his own way though, and in difficult conditions he took five waves to get a score of over 3.17. The 6.00 he managed on that wave, however, proved pivotal. Fiorivanti could only muster up a 4.00 and a 3.47 in the 40 minutes, handing Robinson a 9.17-7.47 win, and a maiden Billabong Pro victory which had, for a long time, seemed like an inevitability.
The World Rankings
One contest into the season, and the world rankings are obviously pretty simple to sort out. Robinson, as you might have guessed, is sitting up top and will wear the yellow jersey at Sunset Beach, with Fiorivanti and then a trio of Brazilians at his heels. Medina was the biggest disappointment at one of his best events, with his early exit seeing him sitting in ninth with 3,320 points. Even further down the table, a number of athletes who will be expecting to be on the precipice of the top five will be keen to turn their fortunes around as soon as possible, with each of Italo Ferreira, Ethan Ewing, Kanoa Igarashi and Griffin Colapinto sitting back in 17th.
What’s Up Next?
With Pipeline having taken place so late in the event window, it’s a very quick turnaround to event number two, which will take place at Sunset Beach. This will be the second year of the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach following a near 20-year hiatus, with the contest set to kick off on the 12th of February through to the 23rd. The start of the event window looks a little slow from a forecast perspective, but come early next week there is a good swell expected to come through; a swell which should deliver a higher quality event than we saw at Pipeline.
