In what looked to be a brutal landing, World Champ and Olympic gold medalist Italo Ferreira was injured after an awkward fall on a sizable floater during the Corona Open J-Bay today. There wasn’t much information on the replay from the commentators, but Italo did post a seemingly serious video of himself being wheeled into a hospital in South Africa.
“I had to abandon the heat and go straight to the hospital after making a mistake and hurting my right knee,” he wrote on Instagram (and we translated). “Unlike last year, I wasn’t able to continue after feeling a lot of pain. I’ve been working hard to be strong and avoid this type of injury, but unfortunately there is a risk! I hope it’s nothing serious and I can get back as soon as possible, but with other plans! Because I can’t reach my ultimate goal. Everything has a purpose and if it had to be that way, one way or another up front I’ll find out and God will show me the best way. Thank you for the support.”
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You can see the rooftop floater that Italo hurt his knee on above, at the 4:14 mark. It didn’t look good as he came down from at least six feet onto the flats. Hoping for the best for the Brazilian who’s created so many fun moments on tour the last few years. He’s currently sitting at number 11.
In other news, the WSL was finally blessed with good surf as the field was whittled down to finals day – the quarters for both men and women. Yago Dora continued his hot streak, as did Maui’s Ian Gentil. Gentil will face Gabriel Medina, and Dora will go against Kanoa Igarashi. Connor O’Leary, who beat John John Florence in the waning minutes of their heat, will match up with Ethan Ewing who continues his own dream run. Filipe Toledo and Jack Robinson will go at each other in arguably the best heat of the quarters.
On the women’s side, Tyler Wright will face Gabriela Bryan, Caroline Marks gets good friend and training partner Lakey Peterson, Molly Picklum and Steph Gilmore face off while Carissa Moore draws South African wildcard Sarah Baum.
