The surfers came. And Teahupo’o absolutely delivered all week. While the waves weren’t quite as big for finals day, the conditions were clean and glorious throughout as Courtney Conlogue made a late-season push, winning at Teahupo’o and Miguel Pupo nabbed his maiden CT victory.
Conlogue, who’d had a relatively quiet year (two even thirds in Australia were her best finishes), took down Brisa Hennessy in the final, who surfed brilliantly as well throughout the event, solidifying her spot in the final five at Trestles in September. That quiet year kept Conlogue, an Orange County native, from qualifying for the WSL Final at her home break but did move her into the seven slot in the rankings, easily within re-qualification for next year and sending her home with some momentum to close out the season.
Miguel Pupo’s 2021-2022 campaign was an even slower burn than Conlogue’s. His younger brother, Samuel, it could be argued might have had a stronger season. Until now, that is. The 30-year-old Brazilian’s best finish this year was an even third at Pipeline. But Teahupo’o’s walls were a good match for the goofy-footer as he captured one of the most prestigious CT wins on the tour. It’s been a slow career burn for Pupo, in fact, who’s been grinding on the CT since 2011.
The highlights were many in easily the WSL’s best event of the year. We leave you with two questions. How do you create more events like Teahupo’o? And doesn’t it feel like the WSL Final should take place somewhere like “The End of the Road?”
