Airs like this that propelled South African Jordy Smith to his first international World Tour victory outside of South Africa. Image: ASP/Smorigo
While the collective eye of the surf community has been turned to the massive swell that hit Teahupoo for the past week, the ASP’s top 34 have been patiently awaiting waves at Barra Da Tijuca for the Billabong Rio Pro. The action was slow to arrive in Brazil, forcing the contest on hold until a smaller swell arrived at the end of the waiting period. But once the show arrived, the beach filled with stoked Brazilians and the world’s best surfers reminded us of their capabilities.
The home team was on fire (for the most part), with Brazilians in three out of four Quarterfinals. Adriano De Souza took out Kelly Slater in the first heat of the day; Kelly just couldn’t find the waves he needed. (The announcers kept touting how much Kelly “isn’t a morning person.” Based on precedent, that seems unlikely.) That’s the fourth time in a row, De Souza has beaten the champ.
In a very controversial second Quarterfinal, Gabriel Medina scored a perfect ten, then dropped in on Adrian Buchan – though both surfers thought they had priority. The colored discs on the beach that indicate priority had quickly been switched from Buchan’s favor to Medina’s. As a result, Adrian waiting for the interference to be called on Medina, thinking he had won the heat; as the judges made no such call, Buchan lost his rhythm and the heat.
Mick Fanning made his way to the Semi’s over Sebastian Zietz between all the madness.
And Jordy Smith showed Filipe Toledo he could take to the air just as well as anyone, thereby defeating the young Brazilian in the last Quarterfinal.
The air show continued with Medina taking on De Souza in the first semi final. In a flurry of air reverses and vicious claims, the lead changed hand several times as scores climbed from sevens to eights to nines and higher. I emphasize the overstated claims. Medina dominated, but it was De Souza who had the lead in the end and even a last minute massive air (topped with more claims) couldn’t put the younger Brazilian through to the final.
Mick Fanning struggled to put a good ride together in his Semi Final heat against Jordy Smith. Jordy continued to successfully take to the air, yet the claims were refreshingly absent as the South African made his way to the Final (his best result in Brazil).
Needless to say, Jordy probably felt the pressure in the Final as Adriano got off to an active start. Eventually the South African answered back and once again the Final became a contest of airs. It was another high scoring affair that saw the lead change hands more than once. As the buzzer sounded, Jordy Smith claimed his first World Tour victory outside of South Africa, defeating multiple Brazilians in the process.
Smith was a bit of a dark horse through the back end of the contest, but he definitely earned the 10,000 points this Tour win nets him. Adriano gains 8,000 points, thereby moving into first place in the rankings, which makes the World Title race quite a bit more interesting.
With exactly two weeks until the Volcom Fiji Pro the boys should have plenty of time to rest up. If Restaurants and Cloudbreak give anything close to the performance they did last year, the Fiji Pro could once again produce a legendary contest.
