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Italo Ferreira, Haleiwa’s John John Florence and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater all sank their teeth into a huge slice of the surfing pie at the Billabong Pipe Masters on Thursday.
Ferreira’s piece, however, was by far the biggest in the 10- to 15-foot wave faces at the World Surf League’s season-ending day at Pipeline. The Brazilian came into the day as the top-ranked surfer and ended it the same way, taking all four of his heats, including a 15.56 to 12.94 victory over countryman and No. 2 Gabriel Medina in the final. That gave him not only his first world championship, but also the coveted Pipe Masters crown.
“I’m so glad to win the Pipe Masters and the world title, too,” Ferreira said. “That was my goal this year. I was super focused. I have big plans for the future. I’m ready. I’ve dedicated all my life to get this (world title) trophy.”
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Florence, who was back in his first competitive event since the summer due to a knee injury, did just enough to clinch a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He was eliminated by Medina in the Pipe Masters quarterfinals, but joined Kolohe Andino on the two-man U.S. team when Slater was taken down by Ferreira in the semifinals.
“The reason I was in this event was to be in the Olympics,” said Florence, who could have skipped Pipe in order to strengthen the knee in preparation for next year’s world tour.
Slater, the 47-year-old who has been surfing at Pipeline for 35 years and is a seven-time Pipe Masters champ, missed out on the Olympics, but he nailed down his third Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title and first in 21 years. He also won the Triple Crown in 1995 and ’98.
Slater saw his chances of an eighth Pipe Masters title evaporate in that semifinal loss to Ferreira.
The Triple Crown trophy goes to the top overall surfer in the three season-ending North Shore contests. Slater made the semifinals of the first leg, the Hawaiian Pro, and advanced to the fourth round of the second leg, the Vans World Cup. He edged Tahiti’s Michel Bourez for the Triple Crown honors when Bourez was bounced from the Pipe quarterfinals.
“I don’t generally try for the Triple Crown, but I had fun doing it this year,” Slater said. “I did the Hawaiian Pro as part of the HBO 24/7 show I’m doing. I wasn’t even going to surf the Vans World Cup, but I got in when Gabriel (Medina) didn’t show up. I got his spot. I probably owe him 10 percent or something.”
As for the Pipe Masters near miss, Slater said, “I wanted that thing today.”
The day, however, belonged to Ferreira, who kept on performing despite being chased by Medina all the way to the final. Medina was trying for a second straight world title and third overall and a second Pipe Masters trophy in a row, and he settled for a solid No. 2 finish for the year. Ferreira continued to show that he deserved the championship by getting the better offerings and doing more with them at the end.
“I had some good heats today with Kelly, Gabriel and Yago (Brazil’s Dora in the quarters),” Ferreira said. “And to all the boys on the world tour, I want to say thank you to everyone. You guys gave me a lot of energy and I tried my best every single day. I came to Pipe a month ago to start training. This trophy means a lot to me. I don’t have the words … .”
And then came joyful sobs while Ferreira stood atop the awards platform, just like when he broke down in tears a half-hour earlier while getting a congratulatory hug from his girlfriend moments after stepping out of the water as the new 2019 world champion.
The crowd on the beach filled in the rest … “It – a – lo. It – a – lo. It – a – lo!”
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