Will Filipe Toledo Surf at Teahupo'o This Year? WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

For those not paying attention Filipe Toledo has been dominating the Championship Tour this year. Fresh off a win at the Rio Oi Pro, and anointing himself the King of Rio. He is 10,000 points ahead of 2nd place Jack Robinson. He is 20,000 points above the cut line where Ethan Ewing sits at #5. If he gets an average score in J Bay he is a lock for Trestles. Why this is interesting, is because Filipe does not have a great history with the left at “The end of the road” and that is the last event before Trestles. Let’s look at Filipe’s experience at Chopes.

In 2015 Filipe had this nasty fall in competition where he went over the falls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A27g6faV60&ab_channel=WorldSurfLeague Then in 2018 he got the local lime sauce treatment on a reef rash on his back https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=372292060127967 picture below.

Filipe Toledo has nightmares of the Teahupo’o reef regularly

This has led some folks to dub Toledo the “Best small wave surfer in the world” something I’m sure he hates. There’s no denying that Toledo is the fastest surfer on tour in small waves, but you also can’t deny his struggles in waves of consequence. He has to be considering skipping the event at this point. What if he injured himself and can’t compete in San Clemente for this year’s title. That would be a hard pill to swallow for not only Filipe but fans and the WSL. The tour formatted the way it is guarantees that the top 5 surfers compete at Trestles the final day for the win. Could they really crown a champ with Filipe not included?

There are a few things to consider here. First thing is this year’s performance at a similar wave Pipe in January. Toledo finished 9th and lost to Seth Moniz who ended up in the final losing to Kelly. So he can be proud of his performance at Pipe which is arguably a scarier less predictable wave than Teahupo’o. Also there’s been reports that Gabby has been in Filipe’s corner all year with encouragement and words of wisdom. Pretty tough to argue for a better surfer to be getting advice from about Teahupo’o than Gabriel Medina. If that’s true I would think Toledo’s confidence would be sky high going to Tahiti this year. Confidence can also work against you at a wave like Chopes though.

One thing is for certain, Felipe Toledo has been on a torrid run to the title this year. Will he be a valid world champ if he sits out one of the prime events on tour?