Notes generate crisis between surfing league and Brazilians – 06/08/2023 – Sport

The surfing World Cup reaches its seventh stage under tension. It is an important moment of the season, the definition of the five finalists and the five finalists of the circuit is approaching. And the WSL (World Surfing League) finds itself at war with the Brazilians, owners of the last four titles among men – and six of the last eight.

The stress, which had been there for some years, seems to have peaked after the championship leg in Lemoore, USA, last month. At Surf Ranch –the American Kelly Slater’s pool of artificial waves–, the results that gave the trophy to the American Griffin Colapinto were much questioned.

Three-time champion Gabriel Medina lost to Ethan Ewing in the quarterfinals, with a tie for 16.67 on the sum of the two best scores. In his final wave, the Australian had exactly the minimum number necessary to give him the victory, even though many analysts –not only Brazilians– have observed that the triumph, on merit, would go to São Paulo de Maresias.

The decision in Lemoore was between Colapinto and another Brazilian, Italo Ferreira, champion of the league in 2019 and of the Olympic Games held in 2021. Again, tight result: 17.77 to 17.13, with questions about the judgment.

Medina led the virtual riot, posting an open letter to the WSL on social media. According to him, “the surfing community, especially the Brazilian one, is appalled by the lack of clarity and inconsistency in the definition of grades”, he wrote.

Part of the discussion is linked precisely to what was introduced into the world league by the “Brazilian Storm”, the “Brazilian storm” that has dominated the men’s circuit for a decade. The generation of Medina, Italo and Filipe Toledo, all world champions, took surfing out of the sea and constantly and consistently took it to the air.

Aerial maneuvers, once rare, have become part of the game. Surf well, but conservatively, a big wave is no longer the parameter. Even without flights, like those in Italo, what is conventionally called “progression” has changed surfing. Medina connects one trick to the next almost seamlessly. Filipe reaches a speed on the board that has probably never been achieved before in the history of the sport.

For them, there was a regression in the criteria.

“It’s clear that the judges’ assessment is now rewarding very simple surfing, incomplete transitions. Progression/variety is being completely taken out of the equation. This is very frustrating and threatens the growth of the sport,” said Medina.

In the case of Kelly Slater’s pool stage, the judgment guidelines are more exposed. At sea, a huge part of the dispute is reading the waves and knowing how to choose them. In a pool with manufactured waves, the same for all competitors, the only ingredients are style and execution.

“The silence consumes me”, published Ferreira. Defender of the title, Toledo said he was “tired, psychologically exhausted”. “It’s not easy to spend ten years swallowing hard. We don’t want anything more than what’s fair. We don’t want anything more than what’s our right,” he said.

It became a public relations issue for the WSL. Kelly Slater, intimately and commercially tied to the league, was keen to side with it in the debate. “There will be errors in everything that is subjective. To say that a result is a theft or a crime is something that bothers me”, declared the multi-champion.

League executive Erik Logan was forced to publish a “letter to the community”. He linked the questioning to “a small number of athletes”, rejected the idea that the judgment is partial and pointed out that complaints on social networks “violate the rules”: “It is unacceptable for any athlete to question the integrity of our judges, who, as our surfers are elite professionals”.

The text only amplified the animosity. The current climate of the “Brazilian Storm” with the direction of the championship is really bellicose.

The feeling of Brazilians on the circuit is that Brazil’s dominance on the circuit generated dissatisfaction. Some point out, almost with all the letters, that the league wants to see the title again in the hands of someone from the most traditional “peaks” of the sport, Hawaii, Australia and the United States.

In an interview with Sheet at the beginning of the season, the CEO of the WSL said that periods of domination of a flag are nothing new and credited the talent of the Brazilians for the sequence of conquests. He cited precisely the word “progression”, which has returned to the center of the discussion now.

Questioned at the time about the recurrent complaints of athletes from Brazil, Logan denied that they caused him a headache. And he praised the “collaboration with the surfers, who are given the opportunity to review their heats at the end of each event and ask about the score”.

This dialogue has not been without ups and downs.

It is in this tension that the El Salvador stage of the circuit will be held, whose window will open this Friday (9) – the dispute only takes place when the organization observes good conditions at sea. There are only four stages left until the final in San Clemente, in the United States.

João Chianca, Chumbinho, second in the ranking, and Filipe Toledo, third, are in a good position to secure a place in the “top 5” and compete in the last stage. Gabriel Medina, sixth, Yago Dora, ninth, and Italo Ferreira, 11th, are also fighting.