Jeremy Flores is back! After missing out on the J-Bay Open because of the brutal head injury he sustained on a free surfing trip to Indonesia, Flores went from the couch to top of the podium when he won the Billabong Pro Tahiti.
Surfing against Gabriel Medina in the final, Flores prevented the reigning event champ from making history and getting back-to-back wins.
Each surfer had their work cut out for them, taking out some heavy favorites to get to the final, and at the end of the day they both found themselves in the top 10 on the rankings.
The Road to the Final
The final day began with a surprise. When the horn sounded at the end of the first heat, Filipe Toledo had done something pretty rare on the WCT. He failed to score a wave in his heat against fellow Brazilian Italo Ferreira.
Conditions were tricky, but Ferreira dropped in on seven waves and his highest score was an 8.83. After Ferreira seemed frozen yesterday in his Round 4 heat with Toledo, the roles were reversed as Toledo couldn’t shake off hesitation and paddled back to the channel scoreless.
The wildcards Aritz Aranburu and Bruno Santos finally lost to tour veterans Kai Otton and C.J. Hobgood in Round 5.
Santos went down first. With 30 seconds left on the clock, he paddled into one of the best waves of the day as Otton was left to watch from the channel. As he got to his feet and the lip started throwing over his head, Santos couldn’t set a rail and he went straight to the reef, leaving Otton to face Medina in the Quarterfinals.
Aranburu also came close, losing by only 0.36 to Hobgood. He needed a 6.80 in the last 5 minutes, but even with priority, he never found it.
Hobgood moved on to face Josh Kerr who was fresh off his Round 4 win the day before. With a minute left on the clock, Kerr had a very narrow lead over Hobgood. But only needing a 5.67, Hobgood sat a little deeper on the peak with priority and pounced on an oncoming set.
With both arms out in front, pumping like mad, Hobgood took the high line and came out of the tube with another claim. The clock ran down and the scores came in at a 7.40, placing Hobgood in his first Semifinal since 2013.
Owen Wright surfed against Medina in the first Semi. He needed to make it to the final in order to take the top spot on the leaderboard and with only one heat standing in his way, it didn’t seem like anyone was going to stop him. But, Medina left him combo’d in the dying minutes of their heat and Wright would have to settle for third.
Hobgood also found himself combo’d against Flores. He chased a score all the way to the end, catching wave after wave, but none were good enough to get him into the final.
Before the action in the final heat took place, Hobgood was presented with the Andy Irons Most Committed Performance Award.
“We were combo’d, but we were literally a yolk off the foamball from two nines…I think I’m as stoked as if I won the event,” Hobgood told WSL Commentator Rosy Hodge.
With Hobgood hauling off is award, the final got under way. Medina stuck to his strategy of staying active in the line-up, while Flores just waited patiently. And when Medina made his first mistake, Flores pounced on the opportunity.
He dropped into a huge drain pipe and found his way out cleanly, claiming it for the judges just before kicking out. With Medina still scrapping for waves, Flores’ score came in at a 9.87 and he took the lead.
After Flores found his back-up wave, a 7.00, Medina tried to answer back, matching it on the next wave and scoring a 7.17.
The final was all about strategy, Medina tried to play games and Flores didn’t fall for it. With a few minutes left on the clockn Medina continued, paddling way up the reef and into no man’s land, then catching a nothing wave to kick out right next to Flores to reposition. All while Flores just watched the clock run down. Flores was crowned 2015 Billabong Pro Tahiti Champion.
With a win at the Pipe Masters and now at Chopes, can we call this guy the best backside tuberider on the WCT? I think so.
Congratulations to both Jeremy Flores and C.J. Hobgood!
