Jeremy Flores is the first Frenchman to win the Quik Pro France. Photo: Laurent Masurel/WSL
You can send Jeremy Flores and Ace Buchan thank you letters if you want. They just made the race for a world title an actual race going into the Elite Tour’s last two events, eliminating three of the CT’s top-five combined.
In fact, Hossegor was upset city for the most part with only two top-ten surfers making it as far as the quarterfinal (Kolohe Andino and Italo Ferreira) while Leo Fioravanti turned in a career-high result, making it into the semis and French QS wildcard Marc Lacomare danced into the quarters. Jeremy Flores was the belle of the ball though, making history by becoming the first Frenchman to win his home country’s CT event. Most American tour fans probably only caught bits and pieces of the past few days thanks to the time difference, but even with sporadic glances during the event, you got a sense Flores was locked in; in every heat from the Round of 16 on, Flores nabbed at least one excellent wave score (8-point rides and above) while the rest of the field managed to tally just one combined (Julian Wilson in the Round of 16). By the numbers, it was a legitimately dominant performance from a guy who jumped into the Top-10 with his first win since the 2017 Pipe Masters.
“Congrats to all the finalists today,” Flores said after his win. “And especially the girls, you guys stepped it up at La Graviere and that was amazing to watch. I honestly thought the day I win this event I’d retire straight after because that’s the one event I have dreamt of winning. But this feels a little early and I’ll be back next year to try and win another one!”
Looking at the bigger picture though, France shook things up in the World Title hunt. Gabriel Medina still holds the yellow jersey going into Portugal — the first surfer to hold the rankings lead for more than one event since John John occupied at the top from Bells through Rio. But the remaining top five (Filipe Toledo, Jordy Smith, Ferreira, and Andino) are all within reasonable reach of catching up to Medina in the last two events of the year. And here’s an interesting tidbit to keep in mind going into Portugal and Hawaii: Medina’s the only one of the top five surfers to have ever won Pipe — or won both events, for that matter. Italo won Portugal last year and Toledo won there back in 2015, but it’s essentially going to require one of the title contenders not named Gabriel Medina turning in an unprecedented performance to keep the Brazilian from his third world title.
As for the women’s CT, Carissa Moore extended her rankings lead over second-place Lakey Peterson. She has a comfortable cushion between herself and the rest of the field, chasing a fourth-career World Title. She’s been dominant, to say the least, making the quarterfinal or better in every stop this year. In her final heat against Caroline Marks, she nabbed an 8.6 and 9-point ride to lock up her third-career win in France.
“It’s been a pretty special year so far,” Moore said. “I feel like I’m learning so much, every step of the way, at every event and every year. This was definitely a special event, being able to share it with my husband (Luke) and Mitch Ross. I have an incredible team of people behind me, my family and friends, my sponsors and the fans who were incredible.”
