billabong-pro-tahiti-ftoledo
After a blazing first part of the season, are the rookies going to bend under the weight of fatigue and psychological pressure? Similar to Young and Zietz, Filipe Toledo also left the Billabong Pro after the second round. Powerless in the first round (6.93) behind Damo Hobgood, the Brazilian gave a big battle in the repecharge round against his compatriot Pupo, who finally had the last word with a clean barrel dug out in the last minute. Down four places in the rankings, the Brazilian surfer (ranked 17th) could now be fighting to stay in the elite.
Surfagram co-founder Nykola Duma.
Journalist Vincent Martin.
Not included in the Top 34 analysis: Owen Wright (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT), Dusty Payne (HAW) and Glenn Hall (IRL) who was wounded and missing in Teahupoo, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) who was unable to finance his trip to Tahiti lacking sponsors. Their replacements were Yadin Nicol (AUS), Pat Gudauskas (USA), Jocelyn Poulou (PYF), Nathan Hedge (AUS) and Ian Walsh (HAW) and the two wildcards from the trials: Alain Riou (PYF) and Anthony Walsh (AUS).
Editor’s Note: This article is a collaborative work between Vincent Martin and the Surfagram team (Nykola Duma & Pierre-Arnaud Marcelot). Vincent is a journalist and runs the popular French surf website Planète Surf. Nykola is a graphic designer and art director and Pierre-Arnaud is a software engineer. Together, they created Surfagram–a fun and visual way to look at ASP World Tour results and statistics on contests and surfers.