Brazilian surfer Filipe Toledo has taken the win at the 2018 Corona Open J-Bay at the JBay Winterfest, making it back-to back wins at this prestigious Championship Tour (CT) surfing event.
He beat Australian powerhouse surfer and CT rookie Wade Carmichael in excellent surf on Thursday, bringing a close to four days of world-class men’s surfing at Supertubes.
In a fast and exciting final, both surfers showed incredible performance and strength, surfing a number of heats from the quarterfinals all the way to the finals.
But it was the Brazilian who had the edge on the Australian, taking the win with his aggressive approach to the long lines of Supertubes.
In the light onshore conditions, the two surfers matched each other wave for wave and move for move, until Toledo snuck into a solid lead with a wave under priority that Carmichael showed no interest in whatsoever.
Being a power surfer with no air game to speak of, Carmichael knew he needed a solid set wave to get the score required with classic carves and rail surfing, but that wave he was looking for never came.
Despite a strong comeback performance from the Australian, including a last-ditch grab-rail air 360 attempt in the dying minutes, it was the lightning-fast young Brazilian who took the honours for the second year in a row.
South African CT surfer and two-time event champion Jordy Smith was also on form throughout this event, but bowed out to Carmichael in an exciting semifinal clash.
A little bit of a slow start soon morphed into a huge titfor-tat encounter as both surfers started blasting, with high speed power carves and massive lip-hits getting the crowds cheering and whistling.
One of the bigger sets was a close battle, with Carmichael hooking a 6.67 and Smith scoring 7.07, and that is how close it was all the way to the end, with the two surfers getting washed into the gully with the burly Australian just in front of the big South African.
In the second semifinal Toledo came up against the dynamic Kanoa Igarashi from Japan, and went to town in this heat, posting two near perfect scores of 9.57 and 9.33 for the win and the finals berth.
Before that, the first quarterfinal was a tight affair, with Carmichael coming in just ahead of Conner Coffin.
In the second quarterfinal, Smith appeared on a new board.
He knew what he needed to do against Jeep Leaderboard leader Julian Wilson, and he was not prepared to do too much more than what was needed. As their heat ticked down, Wilson picked up an absolute bomb that had a wall stretching down forever.
But he was out of sync with the wave, and his last-ditch attempt at a huge air was unsuccessful, and he bowed out, leaving his Jeep Leaderboard top spot at risk of being usurped.
The Gabriel Medina vs Toledo quarters encounter was always going to be a cracker.
Toledo drew first blood with a forehand reverse flip move, banking 8.17 and the heat lead that he held on to, continuing to the semifinals.
With the win, Toledo goes to number one on the Jeep Leaderboard, displacing Australian surfer Wilson into second place.
Medina and Italo Ferreira make up third and fourth place, while Smith sits fairly comfortably at fifth spot on the rankings.
The Corona Open J-Bay now moves onto the Women’s Championship Tour event.
Two in row at J-Bay for Filipe Toledo
Image: Kody McGregor
Brazilian surfer Filipe Toledo has taken the win at the 2018 Corona Open J-Bay at the JBay Winterfest, making it back-to back wins at this prestigious Championship Tour (CT) surfing event.
He beat Australian powerhouse surfer and CT rookie Wade Carmichael in excellent surf on Thursday, bringing a close to four days of world-class men’s surfing at Supertubes.
In a fast and exciting final, both surfers showed incredible performance and strength, surfing a number of heats from the quarterfinals all the way to the finals.
But it was the Brazilian who had the edge on the Australian, taking the win with his aggressive approach to the long lines of Supertubes.
In the light onshore conditions, the two surfers matched each other wave for wave and move for move, until Toledo snuck into a solid lead with a wave under priority that Carmichael showed no interest in whatsoever.
Being a power surfer with no air game to speak of, Carmichael knew he needed a solid set wave to get the score required with classic carves and rail surfing, but that wave he was looking for never came.
Despite a strong comeback performance from the Australian, including a last-ditch grab-rail air 360 attempt in the dying minutes, it was the lightning-fast young Brazilian who took the honours for the second year in a row.
South African CT surfer and two-time event champion Jordy Smith was also on form throughout this event, but bowed out to Carmichael in an exciting semifinal clash.
A little bit of a slow start soon morphed into a huge titfor-tat encounter as both surfers started blasting, with high speed power carves and massive lip-hits getting the crowds cheering and whistling.
One of the bigger sets was a close battle, with Carmichael hooking a 6.67 and Smith scoring 7.07, and that is how close it was all the way to the end, with the two surfers getting washed into the gully with the burly Australian just in front of the big South African.
In the second semifinal Toledo came up against the dynamic Kanoa Igarashi from Japan, and went to town in this heat, posting two near perfect scores of 9.57 and 9.33 for the win and the finals berth.
Before that, the first quarterfinal was a tight affair, with Carmichael coming in just ahead of Conner Coffin.
In the second quarterfinal, Smith appeared on a new board.
He knew what he needed to do against Jeep Leaderboard leader Julian Wilson, and he was not prepared to do too much more than what was needed. As their heat ticked down, Wilson picked up an absolute bomb that had a wall stretching down forever.
But he was out of sync with the wave, and his last-ditch attempt at a huge air was unsuccessful, and he bowed out, leaving his Jeep Leaderboard top spot at risk of being usurped.
The Gabriel Medina vs Toledo quarters encounter was always going to be a cracker.
Toledo drew first blood with a forehand reverse flip move, banking 8.17 and the heat lead that he held on to, continuing to the semifinals.
With the win, Toledo goes to number one on the Jeep Leaderboard, displacing Australian surfer Wilson into second place.
Medina and Italo Ferreira make up third and fourth place, while Smith sits fairly comfortably at fifth spot on the rankings.
The Corona Open J-Bay now moves onto the Women’s Championship Tour event.
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