There will be nowhere for John Florence to hide a dicky knee on a Tour with Italo Ferreira as World Number One.
Just before the dust fully settles on Italo’s maiden Title we need to do a little mopping up, run the tape over it and get the full measure of his achievement, for a simple reason which is: just about halfway through the Tour the best guy (as measured by the rankings at the time) was knocked out by injury.
That led to a lot of talk that whoever won the World Title would forever have an asterisk next to their name and while that talk has subsided I think it’s necessary we take up arms and make the pre-emptive strike against any would be historical revisionists who might emerge in the future.
Just to make sure facts get out in front of any hurt feelings.
First up, Italo has always been “our guy” here at BG. We were first to lament loud and strong when judges underpaid his surfing, especially at J-Bay 2017. I think the first potential World Champion call was made here after his ten-point ride at Snapper 2016.
Second, lets take a comp by comp year in review look at Italo’s year to completely eliminate the asterisk possibility.
Snapper. Best guy in the comp by a country mile. Changed the parameters for aerial surfing in heats. Smashed the Redbull Airborne comp then kept the same flow going in the CT comp. The total focus on airs wasn’t too everyones taste but the demolition job he put on Ricardo Cristie in the round of thirty-two was the most insane aerial surfing I’ve ever seen live or broadcast, and he did it with a rashie on. Would win, or will win, 99 out of a 100 comps in warm water beachbreak peaks. No-one else close.
Bells Beach. Survived a near-death experience at the Winkipop button and put solid surfing down in triple over-head conditions that day and in his quarter-final against Jordy. Cruelled by judges in one of the more ridiculous priority decisions of the year. Not quite up to the standard of either Medina or Florence on the either the big stormy or big clean days but still deserved to final.
Keramas. The 2018 defending champ had his worst result of the year here. Heavily braced ankle seemed to distort his performance in his most disappointing heat of the year against Jack Freestone in a sub-five point heat total loss in the round of thirty-two.
Margaret River. Rode arguably the best wave of the Tour year with his opening ride at the Box. Almost unbelievably low-balled as an 8.17. Very solid but still flamboyant backside turn game in windy, overhead Mainbreak. Well beaten in the quarters by eventual winner John Florence with a score that would have won any other quarter-final.
Rio Pro. Inexplicably poor performance in sizey, jumbled onshore lefts at Saquarema. Well beaten by occasional giant-killing journeyman Fred Morais in the round of thirty-two. Toledo dominant, JJF injured in a flyaway kick-out.
J-Bay. Second best surfer in the event after Gabriel Medina. Huge, vertical turns and insane finishes over the bricks. World Title-winning heat against Filipe Toledo in their semi-final in windy, unruly six-to-eight-foot Supertubes. Looked a likely winner but only stopped by a rampaging Gabe Medina in the final. Arguably the best final of the Year. Could he have beaten JJF at big J-Bay? On that form, yes.
Teahupoo. It’s not often an early round loss has positive implications as a crucial World Title heat but Italo’s round of thirty-two loss to Adriano de Souza in ten-foot Chopes fits into that rarest of categories. Incredible, late under the lip drops and tube drives. Showed the Box wave was no fluke and laid a template for confidence and competence in all the heavy water waves on Tour, Pipe especially.
Replaying the tape, it was a heat that could have gone either way but I think crucial underscores on Italo’s waves meant judges got the result wrong way around. My favourite Italo heat for the year.
Freshwater Pro. Shame we didn’t see a head-to-head between Italo and John John at the Surf Ranch, where they both have clear deficiencies at a venue owned by Medina. It’s hard to discern exactly what coaches do in their modern incarnations but anyone advising Italo has a clear path for improvement available on the lefts at the basin.
The numbers are terrible. Medina’s top three lefts average out at 8.99. Italo’s top three lefts average out at a flat five. With the tub back on Tour he needs to find a way to ride that left.
But then, so does John John.
France. Italo surfed almost the perfect European leg. Just about the finest beachbreak scavenger on Tour. Able to pack French closeouts all day long in search of elusive corners. Switch from tube to turns and back again. Finalist and runner-up to Flores who was on a dream run that could not be denied. Slipstreamed him perfectly.
Portugal. Dominant end-to-end performance. Cemented his position as the world’s best aerialist with an opening ten-point ride in the final against a hapless Jordy Smith. Switched effortlessly from backside high hooks to airs. Chewed through Fred Morais, Connor Coffin, Jack Freestone, Caio Ibelli, then Jordy and looked like he could have taken on every single CT surfer in the 34 as well.
Pipeline. Winning started early. Showing up and blowing up well before the circus arrived. Stroke of tactical genius appointing both Jamie O’Brien and Shane Dorian as corner men. Despite the hyper-active approach always looked mentally cool and in control. Sublimated huge pressure into ascending performances, culminating in a dominant finals win against Medina, who had just comboed Florence in their semi-final. Could have been ten points rides in there if he made two waves, which shows lots of head-room still available for future Pipe Mastery.
Conclusion: No asterisk required.
Future World Titles? Why not.
Mastery at every venue besides the Tub, holds an insane winning record against the second best in the World. There will be nowhere for John Florence to hide a dicky knee on a Tour with Italo Ferreira as World Number One.
Any asterisk creeps out there? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
And the rest of you right-minded folks: What was your highlight Italo moment(s) for the year?
I thought sexuality is supposed to be fluid? Or is that just when it suits? Or is gay the only unfluid sexuality?
7 and 14 is a telling stat.
Twice as good
“Would win, or will win, 99 out of a 100 comps in warm water beachbreak peaks. No-one else close.” Umm, nonsense……Eg. Felipe Toledo
Earlier in the year, I would have argued for the asterisk. After seeing what he did at Pipe, not a chance in hell. I’m still a JJF fan, but I can’t wait for 2020, and if Italo wins again, I’ll have no complaints.
Actually, Ross Clark Jones won the Eddie, JJF got the title from the establishment.
I was there and I agree!
“Not quite up to the standard of either Medina or Florence on the either the big stormy or big clean days but still deserved to final.”
Says it all. Big, clean walls will be Italo’s Achilles heel.
Sustained success needs motivation, not just talent. Medina has it as well as Slater before him. They’re trying to prove something to somebody but who knows what? JJF doesn’t seem to have it, maybe Italo will.
If every venue next year pumps don’t discount Jack Robinson, he’s got the talent and the right kind of background to succeed
PS my comments section has changed to spanish, any idea how to get it back to english?
I think it’s Portugese. To celebrate the Brazilian win by Italo. And people without avatar pictures are by default a picture of a Brazilian flag. Who knows how long it will last? Until another Australian or American wins World Title next year? It’s just a sick and perverse mind game played by the puppet master Negatron.
It came down to Pipe, he won, good on him. I reckon the 88 and 89 world champ would have the authority to pass appropriate judgment on the asterisk angle and they seemed genuinely stoked for Italo.
I can’t say I agree that luck was the key factor in Italo’s win. He caught multiple solid rides under Medina’s priority. The backdoor wave in the beginning wasn’t luck. There was no established priority, it was a masterful display of tactics against surfing’s ultimate tactician. It’s true, there really wasn’t excellent scoring potential on offer during the final, but Medina being the competitive sentinel that he is should have understood this and made the necessary adjustments accordingly.
Longtom: Great write up! Continue with the good work. Your call on Italo’s heat at Snapper with Ricardo is spot on. That was an equivalent to a free surf edit that would take others weeks to compile. His wave at the Box was insane due to his ability to take a complete fuck up and make it into a keeper. The greatest Italo moment of the year was Pipeline. What he did to a rampaging Gabby in the final with everything on the line cannot be overstated. Gabby is easily one of the best pipe surfers and had just put on a masterclass against John John himself. He simply shut Gabby down. Italo has Gabby’s number and not even John John can claim that status.
The exercise of assigning asterisks to events is impractical and useless. Every year in every major and minor sport, key athletes are injured and teams lose. For example, the Warriors lost one of the best basketball players in the world to an Achilles injury in the beginning of the NBA Finals and eventually lose the NBA Finals. John John was having an incredible start to the year, but due to him forgoing knee surgery the year before and hitting a massive section wrong, he missed the majority of the year. If John John was conservative, the heat where he hurt his knee was a runaway (He had put Wade in a combination situation) he could have just sat there and waited out the win (the airs he was trying are the exact reason why he is my favorite surfer along with many others) It sucks, but it does not take away from Italo having an amazing year especially his career defining win at solid Pipe by eliminating Slater (greatest competitive Pipe surfer) and Medina (Pipe savant) with everything on the line.
Gabriel defeated himself in Portugal.
Pardon me, I meant defecated.
I see what you did there…
No way. He has a habit of winning when others fall. Insane competitor and even better surfer. But still a terrible human in my eyes. Glad to see him finish second with an *
ps….Felipe is not on the same level in terms of all round performance. Not even close….unless its under 6ft.
Also Italo out muscled that first wave at the hooter from GM…..GM was shocked. He had been done by his own instincts. Maybe he was finally feeling bad after all his mischief for just a split second…..it cost him the heat and the titles. We finally saw the competitor in him lose…..even if it was to himself.
The first wave (Backdoor) Italo got right out of the gate was overscored. He wasn’t that deep, didn’t come out clean, no turn. He got like a 7.6. I immediately thought overscore. Half way through GM got his money wave (Pipe) CLEARLY better wave (he got spat out) yet was scored .10 less than Italo’s opener. That effected the whole heat.
Happens all too often where judges overscore an initial ride and it affects the whole heat.
I have to disagree LT. There is no way Italo would have won if JJF had made it to the end of the season. He was too far in front. Glad he won though. But will always be an * for me.
GM was only in the hunt because of a series of stupid decisions by RC in 3 mins of madness.
Allies might have lost if the Krauts pushed their blitzkreig onto Dunkirk.
Bush might have lost if Nader hadn’t ran.
Knights might have lost if Joey didn’t force the pass to Albert.
History is what it is.
Ok, ok…but here’s an asterix….if Caio had been riding a quad fin set up and not spazzed the best wave of his heat with Gabs and got the 4.8 that wave was worth….
Histories of ages past
Unenlightened shadows cast
Down through all eternity
The crying of humanity
If it was t for coal Newcastle wldnt be cursed.
Birthplace of climate disaster
You’ve got a real hard on for Newy eh
I wonder why extinction rebels don’t just paddle into the middle of Newy harbour?
That would be really real.
https://www.newcastleherald…
And then.
Kinda silly all this asterisk talk. I think it’s time to look at the facts and acknowledge that our 2019 World Champion got there on the merits of all his dedicated hard work. You can talk all the hypotheticals you want about how John John coulda, shoulda, woulda etc. but unfortunately we will never know what could have been. For all we know, he could’ve completely melted down the back half of the tour this year and someone else totally different could have risen to the top. The loss of John John from the tour changed certain heat draws, fair to assume some of those heat draws may have had a different outcome against another opponent.
Best Italo moment(s).. *Edit* All his airs*. The scene on the Bell’s stairs being comforted by his bird after he was rinsed on the wild day. No other surfers or extended support crew, just him, his girl and the wozz cameras. At first I thought he was being a bit dramatic but then seen the replay of him being held down and washed through. Heavy. That, his Box tube and his commitment to doing well at Pipe and in heavy waves. Deserving champ, no asterisk camp over this way for sure!
Occy
Asterisk.
Parko asterisk
No skip world champs for the next ten years
Feel good story? Yes. Great attitude? Fa Shore ( pottz voice ). Would have won if JJF had surfed all year? Man PLEASE.
Asterisk all day long LT. Don’t diminish your otherwise impeccable pro surf knowledge cred with an asinine take like that. John was on such a roll he had a legitimate shot at winning Brazil, was the favorite at Chopes and J Bay as well as Pipe and a contender everywhere else.
JJ for the hat trick in 2020.
Longtom you really should put your cock on the block and make a list of asterisked world titles. I’ll start for you:
1976. Only became a world tour after half the events had been held.
1993. And you think Medina was unsportsmanlike.
2001. Aborted season after September 11th.
2003? 4 man Pipe heat, 4 ft. garbage and Parko running interference for his Billabong teammate.
2018. Fails to even complete a ride.
1983. Dane Kealoha wins two of the three Hawaiian events and has his ranking stripped by Ian Cairns, who barred the top 16 from competing in them. Biggest asterisk in pro surfing history.
Yeah Mapski, there is a lot more to that sad episode from pro surfing’s early history which, yes, did cost Dane Kealoha a likely world title, and ended his career prematurely. I have covered it fairly extensively in Volume 2 of the Ian Cairns biography “Kanga”. There are numerous comments from various people on all sides about that debacle. Here is Shaun Tomson’s take: “The North Shore is the ultimate proving ground. Then to have Fred Hemmings pull his events off the tour, well, there was only one thing to do. We went on strike. Thirteen of the top 16 surfers boycotted Fred’s events. We stood together. It wasn’t something Ian told us we had to do. We just did it. We believed in what we were doing, that the ASP was the way forward. We wanted to control our own future. It was a pivotal moment for pro surfing. It was a pivotal moment for Ian too, to realize the guys were behind him. It was the dawn of a new era, a turning point that has been lost in the mists of history, which is unfortunate because that was a fundamental moment. Ian was at the helm. We stood together with him like men.” There are many more comments from others involved, if you ever want to read them in Kanga. Cheers.
Yeah, I’ll be in the asterisk camp. The mathematical fact remains that JJF had already lapped the field and a few more top-5 finishes at breaks that he easily would have placed quarters or higher would have the title wrapped up by Blonde Chin Hair way before Pipe.
Ditto. And if not for the interference fiasco in Portugal, Medina most likely would have been champ. Medina and JJF are the best, Italo third. I wouldn’t expect further titles from him. I like him…good guy, good story. Also, his style is, to me, marginal at best.
Your third guy smashed your ‘best’ by a landslide in the final with a world title on the line at Pipeline. Beat him at his own game! Those are cold hard facts.
Third was grossly overscored on opening wave. Judges
This !
While I agree, that if JJF was fit he was a shoe in. But he was injured so it just.. is. I thik Italo deserved and earned it. I just don’t like the * talk. Except maybe 2001, and I like Hobgood.
Your first sentence is the reason Longtom had to write this piece and we are commenting. We all know JJF was going to be champ if he hadn’t got hurt. Doesn’t mean Italo didn’t beat the field post-injury, it just means JJF was the best contest surfer pre-injury and we can easily assume that he would have remained top 3 for the rest of the season and won the title with points to spare.
Actually, the mathematical fact is that there were another 6 events after event #5 in Brazil where John John sustained his knee injury. I’m no numbers wizard here, but you can’t assume that less than half way thru the schedule that he couldn’t be stopped.
Can and will. He isn’t Wilko. Look at his track record at all but one of those places.
If only…but we will never know.