I'll update this ~monthly to maybe spark some interest in the sport, and because I was told I'd get likes lol.
2017 Billabong Pipeline Masters
The season ended with John John Florence winning his second back-to-back world title after all his competition was eliminated from the tournament. His definite win was when the Brazilian Gabriel Medina lost in the quarterfinals to the Frenchman Jeremy Flores. Too bad the same Jeremy Flores also got the finals and stopped John John from winning the Pipeline Masters in his own backyard, John John's house is literally a couple meters away from the event site. So at the end of the day, neither Gabriel Medina nor John John Florence got the win in Hawaii that they've always wanted, specially Medina that has already lost two finals here. And Jeremy Flores just showed how careless he was about the title race, by eliminating the two frontrunners for yet another Pipeline Masters trophy.
2018 Gold Coast
After an excellent season last year, John John Florence got quickly eliminated by losing his first round 1 heat in years, and losing again in round 2 to wildcard and leader of qualifying series leader Mikey Wright, thus, John John Florence got eliminated quickly. In round 3 the same fate happened to Gabriel Medina, that had one of the hardest fought heats against Mikey Wright, but ended up losing as well. After an impressive week of surfing in Snapper Rocks, a bigger swell stroke Australia's cost, and thus the event was relocated to Kirra, a couple miles away to accommodate the bigger waves. Between the rookie Griffin Colapinto's
ten point ride, and Julian Wilson's win in huge waves against fellow Australian Adrian 'Ace' Buchan, the event was very entertaining and displayed excellent surfing. Julian could finally gain momentum and by becoming first place on the rankings and trying to pursue the world title he has yet to win.
2018 Bells Beach
Bells Beach is a classical wave and is the place the Australian legend Mick Fanning decided to retire his surfing career. But this event was full of upsets, as John John Florence and Julian Wilson both fell in their round 3 matchups. Jordy Smith and Matt Wilkinson, both former winners also lost their heats, not being able to make it to quarterfinals and get the result they wanted. Two brazilians goofy footers did put up a show, namely Gabriel Medina and Italo Ferreira, but neither could remove the spotlight from Fanning who was ripping every heat apart and could leave the world surf league with the prestigious yellow jersey, awarded to surfers in the very first spot. Medina got taken down by Italo Ferreira, which moved on to the finals with the legend Mick Fanning, who has had a whopping four wins at this venue before. Mick was the obvious favorite, but the Brazillian didn't back off and eliminated Fanning in an excellent
Final, and thus winning his first event and sharing the very first place with the Australian Julian Wilson.
2018 Margaret River
The last event of the Australian leg started off with pumping waves, but shark attacks during the event window led to its
cancellation, the even will continue in Uluwatu, Indonesia and is scheduled for next week, so stay tuned!
2018 Saquarema
Brazil's sole event in the world tour had some surprisingly powerful barrels and amazing performance of Brazilians Filipe Toledo, Gabriel Medina, and the rookie Yago Dora truly impressed the enthusiastic beach. But the true standout was Filipe Toledo, that completely blitzed his opponents on his way to a win, including a
ten point ride and a massive barrel in the
finals! Wade Carmichael was also a standout surfer being the first rookie to get to a final this year, which gave him the first place on this year's rookie race.
2018 Keramas
Keramas is a famous wave in Bali, Indonesia, and it was home to the world surf league again. The event kicked off in pumping waves and barrels. And the French Jeremy Flores, the South African Jordy Smith, the Tahitian Michel Bourez, and the Brazillian Italo Ferreira were all standouts in the event, yet all of them were taken down by the latter, who got his second win this year in by overcoming fellow Brazillian Filipe Toledo and Australian Julian Wilson with several blitzing backside maneuvers including a
ten point ride consisting of a huge aerial move and strong backside carves. The Tahitian Michel Bourez, victim of Italo's power in the final also managed to rise to fourth overall and enjoyed a big result. Rookie Griffin Colapinto was taken down by said Tahitian in a deadly matchup in the quarterfinals, but the rookie managed to overcome Wade Carmichael on his way to leading the race to win the rookie of the year award. Mikey Wright was also called as an wildcard to this venue, and made a standout semifinals result, increasing his chances to qualifying to next years Championship Tour.
Stay tuned for more!