Kanoa Igarashi’s entire 2022 campaign came down to one wave. He made it count in the final minutes of the Round of 16 at Teahupo’o with a 9.70. Photo: Beatriz Ryder//World Surf League
The 2022 Championship Tour season brought a lot of things. The cut provided drama and controversy all the way back in May. Swell windows seemed determined to miss contest windows at times — as if the surf gods were punishing the WSL and refusing to give even good conditions for G-Land for its midseason cut.
We did just get one day at Teahupo’o that could only be described as epic though. And for all the ups and downs of the 10 contests making up the 2022 schedule, ending it all on such a high note is precisely what WSL officials work to leave us with. And now we have 10 surfers and one more day of competition to see who will be World Champions come September. Rather than ramble on and on, here are the top five men and top five women for the 2022 Rip Curl WSL Finals.
Men’s Top 5
Filipe Toledo is going to be tough to beat at Trestles, that’s for sure. Photo: Beatriz Ryder//World Surf League
Filipe Toledo
Filipe Toledo has been wearing the yellow jersey for most of the season and should be the favorite to win it all having the top seed this time around for a few reasons. Aside from the advantage of sitting and waiting for everybody else to surf through the day, Trestles and Toledo are tailor-made for each other. And in 2021 he showed how dangerous he can be in a WSL Finals format at Lowers, entering as the number three seed and beating Conner Coffin before taking down world number two, Italo Ferreira. He fell to Gabriel Medina in consecutive heats for the final, but that doesn’t tell the full story because Medina needed to surf lights out to earn both wins, needing back-to-back excellent heat scores for the title.
Toledo’s heat scores at Trestles in 2021, in order throughout the day: 16.57; 15.97; 15.70; 16.36. He put up at least one excellent ride (8.0 or higher) in every heat.
Jack Robinson
Robinson got his first CT win to close out 2021 and after a slow(ish) start to this year he caught fire. Back-to-back wins at Margaret River and then at G-Land catapulted Robinson into the thick of the title race, followed by a second-place finish at J-Bay later in the year.
As far as the WSL Finals go, we’ve never seen Robinson compete at the CT level at Trestles. The guy’s had magic all year though, with a handful of fateful moments that propelled him through last-minute heat wins and into the best year of his career so far.
Ethan Ewing
Ethan Ewing’s win at J-Bay was a big turning point. He was knocking on the door of something big all season with three semifinal losses all before the cut. Fun fact: all three of those semifinal losses came to somebody in the WSL top five now. Kanoa Igarashi beat him at Sunset, Toledo at Bells, and Robinson at Margaret River. For good measure, Italo knocked Ethan Ewing out of the Surf City El Salvador Pro in the Quarterfinal. He’s actually the only surfer to have lost to the rest of the Finals field at some point this year. On the bright side, that just paints a picture of how close Ethan Ewing was to running away with it all.
Italo Ferreira
Does anybody else feel like this is an off year for Italo? I distinctly remember Italo losing to Jack Robinson in the quarterfinal at Bells on a questionable last-second call by the judges. While we’ve all watched Robinson enjoy a handful of bounces go his way this season en route to an incredible year, it’s tough to shake the feeling that Italo’s experienced the exact opposite end of the spectrum all of 2022. But in spite of all this, Italo Ferreira is still in the WSL’s top five when it actually matters and he’s the only competitor with a World Title on his resumé. He’s tough to ever count out on a given day…all this in an “off year.”
Kanoa Igarashi
Kanoa Igarashi undoubtedly had the most dramatic story to get to the WSL Finals, stealing Griffin Colapinto’s spot with a last-minute 9.70 against Jadson Andre at Teahupo’o. He sat on priority for an entire 20 minutes without taking a single wave to wait for that opportunity and came through when it counted. Of all the people competing at Trestles in September, Igarashi seems to come through in those big moments the most. The most memorable of them all was the Olympic semifinal in 2021 when he found himself down big in the final seconds against Gabriel Medina and launched a huge air…a controversial one.
It’s a long road from the fifth spot to a best-of-three against Filipe Toledo, but Kanoa will probably give us something really dramatic at the WSL Finals. He usually does.
Women’s Top 5
Carissa Moore
Carissa Moore will be the favorite in every heat at every event until somebody starts consistently knocking her down. There isn’t much else to say. She’s coming off of back-to-back world titles with a rare chance at a three-peat in September. The last to do that was Stephanie Gilmore’s four-peat from 2007-2010. Before that, it was Andy Irons from 2002-2004. Before that, it was Kelly Slater and Layne Beachley rounding out the nineties.
The moral of the story here is that a sixth world title for Carissa Moore would be historic for a multitude of reasons. She’s knocking on the door to join a very, very elite club of competitors.
Johanne Defay
Does slow and steady win the race here? Johanne Defay made the semifinals or better in a stretch that ran from G-Land to Rio, including her singular 2022 victory at G-Land. Outside of that, she’s exited most contests this year in the quarterfinals. This is the WSL Finals though, and there is no quarterfinal hump to push through.
In 2021 Johanne Defay upset Steph Gilmore as the five seed and then lost to Sally Fitzgibbons in her second heat of the day.
Tatiana Weston-Webb
Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil surfs in the Final of the Corona Open J-Bay on July 15, 2022 at Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Photo: Alan van Gysen//World Surf League
Weston-Webb put it to Carissa Moore last year in the Title Match, winning the first of three heats and backing the eventual champ into a corner right away. Tati’s had an even stronger year coming into this Finals Day with wins at J-Bay and in Portugal, beating Carissa Moore along the way in both events. In fact, if Moore and Weston-Webb do meet again at the WSL Finals it’ll be a 2022 rubber match for the duo. The pair have faced off in four elimination heats this year and each has won two apiece.
Brisa Hennessy
Brisa Hennessy was wearing the yellow jersey early in the season after winning at Sunset. She soon backed that up with a semifinal at Bells but didn’t make as much noise the rest of the season, losing in the quarterfinal three out of the next five contests. Hennessy is taking the hottest hand into Trestles though. Her top five spot wasn’t locked up until she was able to outlast Lakey Peterson in Tahiti, winning heats all the way to a final appearance at Teahupo’o and second place finish.
The Costa Rican has enjoyed her best season on tour by far in 2022, parlaying her first ever career CT win into a spot in the WSL Finals.
Stephanie Gilmore
Steph Gilmore had a disappointing WSL Finals in 2021, starting off as the four seed and losing the first heat of the day to Johanne Defay. Still, she’s won seven world titles since 2007 and feels like a tough out at Trestles any time. In fact, if there’s anybody you’d be elated to run into on a random day here and just sit back and watch her do her thing in a free surf it’d have to be Gilmore (at least that’s my vote). So that has to count for something when it’s go time in September.
