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Remember when Italo Ferreira royally messed up his knee? It was during a heat at the Corona Open J-Bay when he did it. A floater went wrong, and his knee folded awkwardly on itself. There wasn’t too much info in the following minutes, but it sure looked bad. He was forced to paddle in and go directly to the doctor.
“I had to abandon the heat and go straight to the hospital after making a mistake and hurting my right knee,” he wrote on Instagram. “Unlike last year, I wasn’t able to continue after feeling a lot of pain. I’ve been working hard to be strong and avoid this type of injury, but unfortunately there is a risk!”
Unfortunately, both for the world champ and for fans of pro surfing, the injury wasn’t great. He’s spent eight weeks out of the water now, but recently he strapped a piece of hardware onto that bum knee and tried it out at Boa Vista Village, a Brazilian wave pool that’s got a lot of heads turning. And from the looks of it, Italo’s surfing is going to be just fine, even if he’s got a big ol’ leg wrap.
