Surfing is no stranger to hyping the next big star. John John jumped into prodigy status the moment he came out of the womb. Kolohe spent a good chunk of his youth under a spotlight too. Heck, remember when a 6-year old Kanoa Igarashi started fielding TV interviews on the Huntington Pier? Those three men are all on the Tour now, while plenty of others who were hyped through their teen years and even earlier never panned out. Leo Fioravanti is going to avoid the fate of the former group.
Today he stands as the top ranked surfer on the ‘QS. He’s beaten Kelly Slater and Adriano De Souza as a WSL wildcard. He stands out in big barreling waves (example A: the first five minutes of this film). He carves like one of the big boys. And to top it all off, that ‘QS leading points total couldn’t have come at a better time because Leo’s an adult. He’s no longer one of those super groms, no longer an up and comer. He’s on the verge of breaking onto the ‘CT full time, so it’s fair to ask, can we still call it hype once the guy’s arrived?
