Leonardo Fioravanti is a bit of an unlikely figure on the WSL. There aren’t too many professional surfers from Rome, after all, but Fioravanti’s talent was apparent very early on. When he was about four years old, he was inspired by his older brother, who surfed on the Italian National team. In just three years, he was doing surf trips to world-class waves in the Maldives, Australia, and France. Still, though, he was just a kid and he had to balance surfing and school.
As he got older, though, it became more and more obvious that surfing was a real career option. In 2005, he won the Ocean 4 Teens event in Italy. Two years later, he won the Moustik Tour in Cap Breton. He was the Under 12 Champion in Portugal and was chosen for the Italian National team to take part in the King of the Groms contest. He continued to work hard, and that work continued to pay off. He won event after event, including the Rip Curl Search at Biarritz in France (under 14) and the Italian leg of the Quicksilver King of the Groms at Marina di Massa. By 2014, he was on the WQS and his journey to the CT really got started. But just as soon as it started, it very nearly ended.
During the Volcom Pro at Pipeline in 2015, Fioravanti broke his back on a wave. He was out of the water for the better part of the year, recovering from surgery and undergoing physical therapy. Eight months later, he was back in the water and winning contests. In 2016, he beat Kelly Slater, and by 2019, he was on the Championship Tour.
And then, of course, 2020 happened. The world shut down and the CT all but stopped. Leo, through it all, maintains a positive outlook. He just started a YouTube channel, following the path of a whole lot of other surfers, and the installment you see above is his first vlog. It follows him as he finally, after six months with no contests, gets to compete in the World Surf League’s French Rendez-vous.
Subscribe to Leo’s YouTube channel here.
