WSL FINALS HAVE CROWNED THE WORLD’S BEST SURFERS: STEPHANIE GILMORE AND FILIPE TOLEDO
After ten events that touched all five continents, the WSL Championship Tour finals were held from September 8th at Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California.
By Erika Scafuro
After ten events that touched all five continents, the WSL Championship Tour finals were held from September 8th at Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California.
We saw the top 5 male and female surfers of the Championship Tour compete in a single day marked by sunny weather, glassy waves of 4-6 feet and a ssw swell. An emotionally charged day that saw the crowning of the world best surfers: the Australian Stephanie Gilmore and the Brazilian Filipe Toledo.
Let’s take a closer look at how this last leg of the Championship Tour went.
Followinf the new rules of the WSL competitions rules, the Rip Curl WSL Finals were only accessed by the top five in the rankings: the top women Stephanie Gilmore, Carissa Moore, Johanne Defay, Tatiana Weston – Webb, Brisa Hennessy and the top men Filipe Toledo, Italo Ferreira, Jack Robinson, Ethan Ewing, Kanoa Igarashi.
The Finals formula saw proceeding in 3 matches the challenge before the final match for the world title.
Stephanie Gilmore conquered all three matches that led to her victory, taking on her colleagues Brisa Hennessy, Tatiana Weston – Webb, Johanne Defay and in the final Carissa Moore. Stephanie Gilmore thus obtained the eighth WSL World Title of her career, proving that she is by far one of the best woman surfers.
Full of joy and gratitude for those who supported her, the 8x World Champion commented on the victory as follows “This is epic. So stocked!”.
The 2019 World Champion Italo Ferreira showed his incredible skill and determination in winning all three matches that led him to the final: the first vs Kanoa Igarashi, the second vs Ethan Ewing and the third vs Jack Robinson. The male Rip Curl WSL Finals has been a final under the Brazilian flag with the victory of Filipe Toledo. “Such a special day”, as Toledo said. A great thrill for Brazil, united in a great Brazilian victory these two world champions. Toledo’s determination to obtain the 2022 WSL World Champion crown was seen throughout his best season, which saw him win two events and finishing second at three others.
For all those who are already nostalgic about WSL CT 2022, you can watch For the Five – A Film for the 2022 WSL Final 5, the emotional film that was made to wish the five finalists of the season good luck and which you can find on the WSL YouTube channel.
