Do you think John John is going to win multiple
titles? Think again!
Do you remember the Brazilian Storm? But do you
really? Recall that the World Surf League’s championship trophy was
supposed to be handed from one Brazilian hand to another to another
for maybe decades? Or even the rest of all time? Yeah?
Of course you don’t!
The Brazilian Storm turned out to be a brief sprinkle followed
by a cloudless Hawaiian sky.
But a new low pressure system is developing just off the
horizon. This one is not spinning in South America though but
Europe instead!
A European Storm! Or, as they say in European, a
“Sturmabteilung!”
The World Surf League writes on its website:
One of the biggest surprises of the 2016 Qualifying Series
has been the rise of Italian Leonardo Fioravanti. The 18-year old
went on a charm offensive while ripping his way to the top of the
QS rankings and torching several of the world’s best as a CT
wildcard.
Though he’s slipped to No. 5 on the QS, Fioravanti has
already locked a spot on the 2017 Samsung Galaxy World Championship
Tour, and he won’t be the only fresh European face on Tour next
year, because one of the hidden headlines of 2016 is there’s
serious depth coming from that bench.
The quiet rise of Joan Duru is another big surprise. After a
solid performance at the Hawaiian Pro the Frenchman has climbed to
No. 2 on the QS, locking his spot on next year’s Tour.
Lacomare has a much tougher road to haul. But the
Frenchman’s powerful backhand approach, with its sweet, fading
bottom turn, is well suited to Sunset’s reef-churning walls. His
heavy-footed snaps throw buckets of spray, too, which helps impress
judges sitting on a scaffold tower a quarter-mile away.
Morais is no stranger to big results in Hawaii. In 2013, the
man from Portugal won the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing “Rookie of
the Year” award, mainly on the back of a 4th place finish at the
World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach. For the last week, it would
have been easy to argue that outside of World Champ John John
Florence, he’s been the form surfer of the event.
That’s an Italian, two Frenchmen and a Portuguese. A new power
axis! Or, as they say in European, a “Großdeutsches Reich!”
Do you think John John is scared? Maybe? He probably shouldn’t
worry his blonde head but… maybe?
