Oh la la! What a finish to France! Ryan Callinan beating Filipe Toledo early on, making the final and then only just losing to a rampaging Julian Wilson. Crazy stuff. The world title race is steaming and Portugal will be as hotly contested as ever. The quick turn around from event to event will be sure to keep everyone on their toes as well.
Portugal is normally about crazy barrels, especially if it’s at the main site of Supertubos. If not, there’s so much variety on offer from fun lefts, to rippable rights that it’s the kind of place you need to be well-rounded to do well at. With that in mind, here’s how the Billabong team are likely to fair coming into the 2nd last event of the WSL season…
Joel Parkinson
Cruising through his last European leg, Parko was lapping up the red wine, baguettes and barrels in France. He’ll be moving onto sardines, port at pits in Portugal. While the set up at Supertubos suits Parko’s surfing, he’s yet to get past the quarter finals here. It says a lot about the guy that this isn’t an amazing result for him. A lot of surfers on tour would send nudes to Huey to crack a 5th, but Parko isn’t one to settle - he wants a 1st. You can bet he’ll be itching to add a new trophy to his stacked cabinet and go out in style. This event has a history of having different surfers win too, so this might just be Parko’s best and final year.
Griffin Colapinto
From someone whose going their last run at Portugal, to someone he’s running up to their first - Griffin is looking to pop his Supertubos Cherry with the pop of a champagne bottle on the podium. He loves a pit and loves an air - the two things that generally deliver scores in this place. Griffin’s cat-on-acid reflexes suit the need to stick difficult close-out sections, and his toe-nail dig drops are perfect for the under-the-ledge takeovers. Look for big things from this young rookie.
Italo Ferreira
Another guy that loves Portugal like a geek loves fast wifi - Italo speaks the native language, has placed 2nd here in the past, and was tearing in the early rounds of France. Give him a tube section and Italo with blast through it like the Millenium Falcon in Hyperdrive. Give him an air section and he’ll yeet up a big spin that will make your eyeballs pop. Combine those two things together and you’ve got the recipe for 8s, 9s and more. Italo could easily make this his 3rd win for the year. Get him in your team.
Frederico Morais
Home town hero and proven quantity at Portugal - Frederico made quarter finals here as a wild card to announce his arrival as a real threat on the pro-surfing scene a few years back. There’s a lot of love for him in this place and having people cheering on the beach gets Fred revved up harder than a redlining Harley. If he managed a win here, the country would explode into a nationwide party. He can do it too. Barrel riding, carves and lighting backhand snaps. The great Portuguese hope has got to be a favourite to hit a finals-series finish at least.
The MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal starts October 16th. Tune in to the webcast via WSL.com or Facebook Live.
Photos via World Surf League (@wsl)
