The Oi Rio Pro has been a happy hunting ground for locals in recent years, and with nearly half of this year’s field hailing from Brazil – a couple of them among the favourites for this year’s world title – history seemed destined to repeat. Let’s take a look at how the 2022 incarnation of the event played out.
The Event
Though Filipe Toledo and Jack Robinson had opened up something of a gap on the field heading into this event, with three events still to go neither of them was completely assured of a place in the WSL Finals, and the remaining three spots in the top five remained well and truly up for grabs. The field was dominated by locals, with 11 of the 24 competitors in the event hailing from Brazil, and they wasted no time putting their stamp on the event by winning four of the first five heats. Those winners included Italo Ferreira, injury wildcard Michael Rodrigues, Toledo and Yago Dora, while Robinson bucked the trend by winning as the only non-Brazilian in his heat. But while there were a couple of big names advancing straight through to the Round of 16, plenty more world title contenders were sent to the Elimination Round; among them Griffin Colapinto, Kanoa Igarashi, Ethan Ewing, and much to the home crowd’s dismay, Gabriel Medina.
With world ranking points at a premium, those names needed to find a way to stay in the event in challenging conditions. Winner of the Surf City El Salvador Pro Colapinto was the first cab off the rank, but he fell short up against the impressive but little-known Peruvian Miguel Tudela, marking the second time this year he’s been knocked out in the Elimination Round after winning the event prior. Two heats later, it was Igarashi’s turn to be sent packing early, beaten by Brazilian Mateus Herdy, who became the seventh Brazilian into the Round of 16. Things went a little south for the locals thereafter though; the impressive Joao Chianca, who has surfed brilliantly without luck this year, continued his run of misfortune, losing by 0.1 points to Ethan Ewing. Soon after, disaster struck, at least from a Brazilian perspective. Medina, needing to likely win two of the last three events of the season to make the finals, failed to fire against an impressive Callum Robson, and was sent packing early – along with his hopes of making a surprise appearance at Trestles.
Conditions continued to improve into the Round of 16, which started with an agonising loss for Robinson, who went down by 0.07 points to Herdy. The next four heats saw the locals reassert their dominance; Samuel Pupo, Ferreira, Miguel Pupo and Toledo saluting in succession, all with scores in excess of 13.5. Ethan Ewing was then eliminated by another local, this time Dora, by just 0.1 points, before Robson continued his strong form with a close win over compatriot Jackson Baker.
Which left us with eight; six Brazilians and two Aussies. The first heat was underwhelming, with Sammy Pupo defeating Herdy in a low-scoring affair, but the second more than made up for it. Ferreira and Miguel Pupo locked horns in a tight battle, and at the bell found themselves tied on 13.34; courtesy of a higher top individual wave score, it was Ferreira who prevailed. It was then the two Aussies’ turn to try to upset the apple cart, and they failed miserably. Toledo showed his wares at this break by destroying Connor O’Leary 15.10-8.94, before Dora was similarly dominant against Robson, winning 14.17-7.00.
And so it was confirmed; for the fourth time in a row, a local would win the men’s Oi Rio Pro. Toledo, having been responsible for the most recent two of those wins, was undoubtedly the man to beat, and he showed why in his semi; he put together a huge heat score of 17.36, and while Dora was gallant in defeat, his 15.34 wasn’t enough to slow the yellow jersey wearer. Sammy Pupo and Ferreira were less impressive in their semi, with only one ride surpassing a 6-point score, and in something of an upset it was Pupo who advanced to the first final of his career with an 11.44-10.83.
As far as finals go, this one shaped up as a bit of mismatch; Toledo, the best surfer in the world so far this year and the most successful ever at this contest, up against a 21-year-old whippersnapper who had never advanced past the quarterfinals until this event. And it didn’t take long for the world title favourite to flex his muscles. Early in the heat, he took to the sky on a closeout and landed a huge 360 for a 10-point ride, before backing that up soon thereafter with an 8.67. That left Pupo in an unenviable combo situation, and even when he bagged an 8.00 of his own it wasn’t enough to change his situation. When the final bell sounded, Toledo was ahead 18.67-10.73, and bagged his second win of the season.
The Standings
Though he was already sitting in top spot, Toledo was the big mover from the Oi Rio Pro, jumping out to a nearly 10,000-point lead in the rankings and assuring himself a spot at Trestles in September. Fellow finalist Sammy Pupo also improved his position significantly, jumping from 17th to 11th and giving himself an outside chance at making his way into the top five.
Elsewhere, Ewing jumped back into the top five, surpassing the continually dropping Igarashi and the injured Florence, but if the latter can get back in the water he’ll be mighty hard to keep out of the finals. O’Leary and Miguel Pupo also moved up inside the top ten, and are well and truly part of an extended group still in the Trestles hunt.
Down the bottom of the leaderboard, Medina’s name sticks out like a sore thumb. After consecutive semi-finals appearances gave him a slight chance of working his way into the finals race, the meagre 1,330 points he earned at his home event sees him too far back to trouble the top five with just a couple of events to go.
What’s Up Next?
The penultimate event of the regular season is one which, if conditions comply, can be the best of the year; the Corona Open J-Bay. The peeling right-hander has been, surprise surprise, the domain of the Brazilians in recent years, with Medina and Toledo sharing the spoils at the last three incarnations of the event. The event opens its window on the 12th of July and closes on the 21st, and will go a long way to determining who surfs at Trestles in a couple of months’ time.
