Stephanie Gilmore and Griffin Colapinto have both moved up the rankings to number three in the world with their event wins at Punta Roca. Photo: WSL/Pat Nolan.
While the Surf City El Salvador Pro didn’t deliver much in the way of waves, as far as excitement goes it came through in spades. Finals Day dawned with clean, albeit chunky conditions, as the women hit the water for the semis. Johanne Defay met Lakey Peterson, and Caroline Marks (who took down world number one Carissa Moore in yesterday’s matchup) faced off with Stephanie Gilmore. In the end, the two seasoned veterans, Peterson and Gilmore, put down dominant performances to take the wins in their respective heats, setting up a finals matchup that we’ve seen many times over the years with both women looking for their first win of the season.
The finals finish catapulted both of them up the rankings and into the final five conversation – whoever took home the win would end up ranked third in the world. A low-scoring heat until the very end, Peterson held the lead until the final five minutes when Gilmore dropped a 5.67 to back up her 7.33 and take the lead, which she held through the final minutes to earn CT win number 33 of her career. “The waves were pretty hard, but once I got past Caroline I was super confidant and knew I could do it… I love doing this, I love winning, I love this sport,” said the newly minted champion.
On the men’s side, we saw two electrifying matchups in the semi finals, as Griffin Colapinto squared up with a refreshed and hungry Gabriel Medina, and Italo Ferreira took on number-one ranked Filipe Toledo. Ferreira earned his way to the semis yesterday with a last-minute performance that lifted him above an in-form Ethan Ewing. However, the newfound fire from Ferreira wouldn’t carry him past Toledo as the man in the yellow leader’s jersey showed us all why he’s wearing it with a massive 9.70. The highest scoring wave of the event, Toledo put down a fluid two-air combo, flipping the heat and paving his way to yet another finals appearance this year.
On the other side of the bracket, Griffin Colapinto, without a doubt, earned his way to the finals. Starting out the event with a heat loss that sent him to the elimination rounds, Colapinto fought his way back, rising above Carlos Munoz, and Jordy Smith before facing down Kanoa Igarashi in an exciting quarterfinals where he clinched his finals day appearance. Against Medina, Colapinto held the lead throughout most of the heat, before Medina stole it back with a 7.67 and just eight minutes left on the clock. But Griffin was far from done, getting the score he needed in the final minutes to take the lead, the win, and another finals appearance in what has easily been the Californian’s best season on tour.
As for the final between Colapinto and Toledo, forget about the wave quality, this was a generational battle. Both athletes took to the air to manufacture huge scores in what were undoubtedly “difficult” conditions. Toledo took an early lead with a massive 9.57, earned on another combination of airs. Colapinto showed dynamic and varied surfing in his next wave that earned him a 9.00 as the two went blow-for-blow showing their prowess in the air and ability to manufacture scores in small waves on rail.
With eight minutes to go the two found themselves in a dead tie, each with a combined score of 16.00. The tie would go to Toledo with the higher single score of a 9.57 to Colapinto’s 9.00. Colapinto needed a 7.01 to take the win, and with three minutes to go, under priority, he took offf on a tiny wave and turned it into something huge, an 8.00 for the lead. The clock ran out with Toledo looking for a wave to answer on while Colapinto captured his second CT win of the season, his first also coming against Toledo at Supertubos earlier this year.
Photo: WSL//YouTube Screenshot.
“Comeback performances are what I dream of,” Griffin told Strider Wasilewski in his post-heat interview. “If I’m in that position, I love it… This final feels better than Portugal, so I’m just soaking it all in.”
The tour now heads to Brazil for the Oi Rio Pro June 23-30.
