Filipe Toledo just won the Oakley Lowers Pro in the very convincing fashion. In three-to-five foot surf at Southern California’s most famous wave, Toledo tore the lid off and proved that he is one of the best smaller waves surfers in the world.
One of the greatest things about Toledo’s competitive surfing isn’t his surfing–it’s his lack of tactics. He simply catches a lot of waves and surfs them all as well as he can. At chest-high Lowers, that worked perfectly for Toledo.
With his win against Frenchman Jeremy Flores, Toledo became the third consecutive Brazilian to win the event. Gabriel Medina and Miguel Pupo both claimed the title there. The Oakley Lowers Pro was the first QS event of the 2015 season, and Filipe Toledo’s win there puts him in third in the CT rankings and second on the QS.
Toledo’s performance at Lowers showed just how important progressive surfing is in events like the one at Lower trestles. On nearly every wave of the event, the Brazilian phenom went to the air, and the judges loved it.
“The world title is definitely on my mind and I can’t wait to get that yellow jersey back again,” Toledo said to the WSL. “It’s going to be an amazing competition in Brazil and we’re going to have a lot of support. After Gabriel’s world title last year, this year is going to be amazing and the event will be packed and crazy.”
