Italo boosted a massive air to get the win over Griffin Colapinto. Photo: WSL
Despite being a replacement event, the surfing hotbed of Newcastle has provided plenty of highlights as the World Surf League gets back underway with its Australian tour. Day Three from the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup is in the books, and with finals day on the near horizon (next call is just three hours away), we’ve already seen plenty of pressure-beating rides, upsets, and the wait has paid off as the surf is now absolutely cookin’.
For those who haven’t been glued to their screens like I have the past few days, let’s start at the beginning. From the second day on, Newcastle proved to be interesting. The round of 32 saw a major upset with local rookie Morgan Cibilic taking out the then rankings leader John John Florence. And he didn’t just eek out a win against John. He beat him soundly, using his local knowledge of the unpredictable and tricky beachbreak conditions to throw down an 8.1 and a 9.03 against John’s 7.83 and 5.33.
Did I mention he had an injured foot when this all went down? “Morgsy” (don’t you love the Australian’s knack for adding a “Y” to the end of every word, making it cooler to say) was all set to withdraw from Newcastle when the bone bruising on his front foot started to go down, and he figured he’d give Newcastle a go. He’s now into the Quarterfinals, where he will go up against another hometown hero, Ryan Callinan.
Medina might be upgrading to the yellow leader’s jersey after this event, if he’s able to keep Italo in check, that is. Photo: WSL/Cait Miers
One person who’s probably very happy Morgsy decided to compete is Gabriel Medina, who stole the Jeep Leader Jersey from John by making it into the Quarterfinals in a fairly tight heat against Frederico Morais. The waves that morning for the round of 16 were downright scary, dumping beachbreak onto basically dry sand and rock. Narrowly leading with a minute to go, Gabby with priority uncharacteristically let Freddy go on a wave, but followed it up by stomping a massive floater into the flats with only 45 seconds left, winning the heat and earning the leader’s jersey. He’ll go up against fellow Brazilian Adriano de Souza, and will keep Italo squarely in his rearview mirror if he wants to keep that yellow jersey.
Looks like an exciting finals day is on the horizon… Photo: WSL
In general, the Brazilians have done pretty well for themselves, securing five of eight spots in the quarterfinals. Joining Adriano and Gabby are Italo Ferreira and Deivid Silva, going up against each other, and Filipe Toledo going up against the lone surviving American, Conner Coffin. Italo has stayed busy this event, catching tons of waves (17 to be exact) against local Jackson Baker in the round of 32 and engaging in a pretty wild air battle against Griffin Colapinto, which he won. Even San Clemente’s best had a tough time against the defending world champ in the air.
Isabella Nichols connects with the crowd. Photo: WSL/Matt Dunbar
The women’s side has seen some upsets as well, as newcomer Isabella Nichols took on Tatiana Weston-Webb and won, after losing to her in the Roxy Maui Pro. Nichols went on to defeat Steph Gilmore in the quarterfinals, and will go up against Keely Andrew in the semis. The 23-year-old has been on an absolutely incredible streak of late – as a grom she was all anyone could talk about, but then she ran into a few tough years on the QS as she tried to juggle school and competing at the same time. 2019 was her breakout season, as, in the final QS event of the year, the Port Stephens Pro, she got her first event win, gaining her the number one spot in the QS rankings and a CT start. 2020 was, well, 2020, but it did nothing to slow her down as she is poised for a potential CT final if she can beat fellow Aussie Keely Andrew, who had her own upset against veteran Courtney Conlogue to advance.
The women’s side is seeing plenty of drama as well, with upsets by Isabella Nichols and Keely Andrew. Photo: WSL
However, all the scuttle today has been about Carissa Moore’s air game. The four-time champ is currently wearing the Jeep Leader Jersey, and doesn’t look like she’s going to give it away any time soon. In an exciting heat against Johanne Defay, with stellar conditions that had already seen a couple of tuberides, Carissa went to the air, stomping a massive air reverse, surprising herself and scoring the highest point wave of the event with a 9.90. Even Johanne, with front row seats to the action as she recovered her own board in the shallows, had to give Carissa a round of applause. Carissa will go up against Caroline Marks, who took down Bronte Macaulay in a goofyfoot vs. goofyfoot battle in late afternoon glass-off conditions. Caroline has one of the most dangerous backhands in the game, as she often displays, and she had it on lock at Newcastle, dropping an 8.43 and a 7.83 to reach the semis.
Carissa stomps one of the best airs ever in women’s competition
The next call for finals day will be April 10 at 6:45 a.m. AEST, 1:45 p.m. on the ninth in the U.S. With the way the waves have improved, and the incredible conditions we saw at the end of yesterday’s comp, I’ve got to believe we’ll be seeing finals day in just a few hours. You can tune into the action on the World Surf League website, or the WSL YouTube channel.
