João Chianca has been nursing a broken bone since Cloudbreak. Photo: Fred Pompermayer//Instagram//Cait Miers//WSL
João Chianca revealed that he broke his left foot during the Fiji Pro, but he won’t let it interrupt his season. Even with the injury, the 26-year-old Brazilian remains in the Trestles Pro heat draw, which kicks off tomorrow, September 11.
Chianca posted on Instagram about the injury he’s been dealing with since his round two loss at Cloudbreak, saying he flew back to California and has been focusing on a speedy recovery. He says he’s going to go against doctors’ recommendations by surfing in the Trestles Pro.
“I was very uncertain about what to do and how long the recovery would take, but instead of returning home — where being with family and friends would have been much more comfortable — I decided to come to California,” Chianca wrote in Portuguese. “I spent the 15-day gap between the Fiji and California events rehabilitating in solitude, focusing entirely on my recovery and fueling my determination and hope to heal.”
“I know I’m not fully healed yet, but I chose to ignore the usual standards and simply trust the process,” he added.
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In another Instagram story about his diagnosis, doctors had told Chianca that he can put as much weight on the foot as he can tolerate inside a protective boot (“WBAT in CAM boot,” in medical language). The report defines the injury as an “acute, non-displaced, oblique fracture in the mid-section of the cuboid bone,” with probable bone bruises on the fourth and fifth metatarsals. Obviously, he can’t surf his heat with a boot on, so he’ll be competing with a certain degree of pain.
At Cloudbreak, Chianca fell to Morgan Cibilic, despite earning an 8.67 wave score. He’s slated to take on Marco Mignot in round two at Trestles. Currently ranked 18th, he needs a result to ensure he doesn’t fall below the top-22 postseason cutoff, which will reduce the men’s tour from 34 to 22 for Portugal and Cloud 9. The entire tour will return for the season finale at Pipeline.
