Griffin Colapinto, fired up. Photo: Emma Sharon//World Surf League
The Round of 16 matchup Wednesday afternoon at the Trestles Pro between Griffin Colapinto and Filipe Toledo was a banger. To be fair, the entire day was filled with high scores and great surfing on the men’s side — six total excellent score heats (16 points and above) and a seventh that missed the mark by seven-hundredths of a point (Kanoa Igarashi). The judges handed out 14 single wave scores in the excellent range, and the highest mark of the day given on a single wave (9.33 from Crosby Colapinto) still wasn’t enough to advance into the quarterfinals.
But Griff vs Filipe was the best bout of them all.
With 10 minutes to go, Colapinto only had one score on the board, a 7.07 to Toledo’s combined wave score of 15.50. He finally put his first keeper score on the board two minutes later, a 7.9. Colapinto was left needing a manageable 7.61 with under four minutes to go. He launched a massive air reverse that seemed like it would’ve gotten the job done. It didn’t. The score came up just short of the mark with little time or hope that the situation could change.
Sure enough, Filipe Toledo took off on a right-hander with priority at the 50-second mark. He posted his highest score of the day — an 8.3 that featured stomping out a full rotation that landed in front of the whitewater. That score hadn’t come through yet, of course, and Colapinto was given his last shot with 30 seconds left. Three huge turns, the last of them a massive blowtail that slid down the wave face. Griff gave a fist pump. Filipe sat in front of the whole thing and clapped.
Neither score had come through when the final buzzer rang. Both surfers were back on the beach waiting to learn who would advance. Somebody was mobbed with hugs, jumping and cheering with dozens of fans when those scores did come through.
It’s worth a watch to see who won, if you haven’t seen it already.
The next call for the Trestles Pro, in what could be a packed finals day, is Saturday, June 14.
