Filipe Toledo hopes to improve on his eighth-place finish on the CT laster year with a better run in 2026. Photo: WSL
Filipe Toledo recently opened his new Rio de Janeiro home to Brazilian media outlet Globo for an interview and photo shoot. He spoke about his desire to win an Olympic medal and made it clear he doesn’t need a third world title to validate his career.
“I want to be champion again, of course. But I don’t want that commitment of ‘if I don’t win, it tarnishes my legacy,’” Toledo said in Portuguese at his house in the Rio suburb of Itanhangá. “Titles are a consequence of hard work. I really want an Olympic medal.”
Toledo narrowly missed qualifying for surfing’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, falling victim to the two-surfer-per-country limit. He finished fourth on the Championship Tour in the 2019 qualification year, but with Italo Ferreira first and Gabriel Medina second, Toledo was left on the outside.
He took matters into his own hands ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, winning the 2023 world title – his second in a row – to secure an Olympic berth. Toledo had long struggled at Teahupo’o, the Olympic venue, but showed flashes of greatness with a near-perfect barrel to advance into round three. Then his struggles resurfaced in round four as conditions got heavier. He was eliminated in ninth place.
Looking ahead, if Toledo qualifies for the 2028 Olympics, he would be among the favorites. Both of his world titles were won at Lower Trestles during the WSL’s Final 5 era, which was discontinued in 2026 in favor of a return to a cumulative season-long ranking system.
After 11 years of living in California, Toledo said he missed being Brazilian and felt a draw back to his home country. The 30-year-old and father of three said he moved to San Clemente in 2014 for professional reasons, to be closer to sponsors, better work conditions for his parents, and school opportunities for his brothers. However, he revealed that it was never his long-term plan.
“We never left Brazil with the idea that we would stay there forever,” he said.
Toledo said he prefers the vibrance and warmth of life in Brazil. And instead of returning to his birthplace of Ubatuba on the coast of São Paulo, he decided to live in Rio de Janeiro due to proximity to an international airport, the surf (of course), and quality bilingual schools for his children.
His new neighborhood, which backs up to the edge of a rainforest with monkeys and toucans, reminds him of how he was raised.
“I grew up like this, at the foot of the hill, with lots of birds, lots of animals,” he said. “This place really reminds me of my childhood.”
Toledo told the journalist that Rio’s waves are fast, explosive, and unpredictable – conditions he says have helped sharpen his surfing. How that training in Brazil carries over will become clear when the 2026 Championship Tour gets underway. After a subpar eighth-place finish in 2025 by his standards, Toledo will undoubtedly be aiming higher, possibly towards another title.
