When the news broke that Taj Burrow was going to slip into a jersey again, pro surfing fans were excited. Burrow is a legend, and his retirement from the tour was a blow. He spent nearly two decades going around the world as a competitor and had one of the most celebrated careers in surfing. For any grom, Taj was inspirational. So when Griffin Colapinto and Jack Freestone came up against him at the Rottnest event, it likely was a wild experience.
“Taj Burrow has made a huge contribution to the sport of surfing,” said WSL Commissioner, Kieren Perrow after Burrow’s retirement. “He is a surfer who inspired generations and sparked an approach that has raised the level of performance surfing in competition to unprecedented levels. The WSL is extremely fortunate to have had Taj on tour for nearly two decades and we wish him all the best in the next chapter of his life.”
Burrow entered the event after Ace Buchan was forced to drop out due to a back injury. It was not, however, the shining return to pro surfing everyone hoped for. In his first heat, Burrow faced off against Adriano de Souza and Italo Ferreira. It should have been one of the best heats of the event, but it fell flat. Adriano ended up winning with a single wave of 6.5. Taj held priority for almost the entire heat, not taking a wave, then finally, in the dying minutes, found a tiny piece of swell worth just .70.
That loss pushed Burrow into the Elimination Round, where Colapinto and Freestone met him — and he’s undoubtedly one of their heroes. Still, though, meeting your hero doesn’t mean you have to lay down for them, and Colapinto and Freestone did not. By the end of the heat, Burrow was eliminated in 33rd place with a heat total of 9.60. Freestone managed to find 11.16 points, and Colapinto won the heat with 12.50.
Still, though, it was good to see Burrow back in action, especially at a place like Rottnest. “We were talking story before the heat,” Colapinto said after he won. “There was no pressure. I was asking him about the boards he’s riding and all that; what’s going on in his life. It just felt like we were having a free surf.
Watch the event live on Worldsurfleague.com
