"I don't think it's fair," says Toledo.
The reigning world champion surfer and king of all waves two feet and under, Filipe Toledo, has shocked surf fans after pushing back, hard, against any suggestion countryman Gabriel Medina should slide into the Final 5 if Ethan Ewing don’t make it.
Toledo, the twenty-eight-year-old father of two and one of the sport’s most delicate organisms, made the inflammatory comments to Lucas D’Assumpção, from Waves.com.br.
According to Toledo, rules are rule, what can I do etc.
“The format was created… so you have to be prepared for it at the beginning of the year. My constancy comes, I’m looking for all the best results to guarantee my first place in the Finals,” he said. “I know that there is a possibility of me losing the world title, that theoretically I would have already won if it was on consecutive points, but I already knew that from the beginning and I was already prepared psychologically.
He added, “I think the format is really cool, I think it’s very cool and brings a lot of visibility is something that can bring an opportunity to our sport in the long term”.
But as for triple world champ Medina getting a ride into the Final Five,
“There was all this buzz if Ethan isn’t going to make it, Gabriel has to come in. Obviously I really wanted Gabriel, John John, Yago, everyone to be in the finals,” said Toledo.
“But man, they surfed all year, they had 10 chances to win the points needed to be in the finals and they didn’t and then because of the other being third, 20,000 points ahead, he gets hurt and they still have a chance to enter. I don’t think it’s fair, I think that if you didn’t get the necessary score to play in the Finals, you don’t get to be there.”
Inflammatory, no? Where’s the Brazilian brotherhood?