Photo: WSL/Kenny Morris
Caity Simmers and Griffin Colapinto have won the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach presented by Shiseido.
The win has been a long time coming for Colapinto — he made it to the finals in 2018, only to lose against Kanoa Igarashi, then found himself losing in the semis to Australian Liam O’Brien the next year. This year, however, he was not only able to win, but to beat both Igarashi and O’Brien in the semis and quarters, respectively.
After making it to the final, Colapinto came up against Jake Marshall, whose surfing was tack-sharp throughout the event. Marshall came out of the gates firing and found himself with an early lead, but Colapinto wasn’t going to come that close and lose again. He pulled out all the stops and ended up at the top of the podium. “All day, baby, all day!” he shouted after he won. “This is the biggest win of my career!”
On the women’s side, 15-year-old Caitlin Simmers battled her way to the top for the biggest win by far of her career. She had to defeat some truly big names, including 29-year-old Courtney Conlogue, who has three US Open crowns of her own.
Simmers built a full head of steam in the last few months, winning the Jack’s Surfboards Pro in August, which was also in Huntington Beach. At the WRV Outer Banks Pro, she made it to the semis, then ended second last week at the Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro in Oceanside, where she grew up. She also won the 2019 Pro Junior division at the US Open.
When she came into the finals, Simmers was surfing against Hawaiian Gabriela Bryan, a 19-year-old regular foot. Both women have a good opportunity to qualify for the CT in 2022.
Simmers, however, isn’t looking that far ahead. Instead, she’s taking it one day at a time. “I’m not really trying to qualify,” she said. “I just want to have fun in France and Portugal, and just surf, and enjoy myself… I don’t really have much to say other than I’m really happy and stoked everything went my way.”
