Since the 2022 Men’s CT started at Pipeline this year, Kelly Slater has a win. So do Barron Mamiya (Sunset) and Griffin Colapinto (Portugal). But coming into Bells Beach, the yellow jersey is currently resting on the shoulders of Kanoa Igarashi, who, although he hasn’t topped the podium, has had a pretty extraordinary year. Two fifth place finishes and a second put him at 17,290 points.
Since its a point-based system, one needn’t actually win an event to get to the top. First place gets 10,000 points, second gets 8,000, and so on a so-forth, and Igarashi has amassed enough points from almost-wins to scratch his way into that yellow jersey. The World Surf League recently released a short video that shows what that looks like. Turns out, it looks like a lot of waves in the excellent range.
