Progressing through the heavily stacked QS10,000 draw, the dynamic Brazilian took out fellow dream tour competitors Michel Bourez and Kanoa Igarashi in the quarters and semis respectively, before ending young Australian Ethan Ewing’s impeccable run in a fairly one-sided final. Following a number of trademark full-rotations in earlier heats, Toledo threw down a couple of devastating layback hacks in the decider to seal the win and enjoy another frenzied chairing up the Huntington Beach sand.
Despite not enjoying his best performance in the gutless final conditions, Ewing’s runner-up finish was nonetheless impressive considering some of the opponents he managed to take out along the way, including Julian Wilson, Ryan Callinan, and 2015 world champ Adriano De Souza. The seventeen-year-old North Straddy export has been enjoying a breakout year in 2016, already coming into the US Open ranked sixth on the QS. Following his podium finish at Huntington, however, he has moved up to second in the ratings behind Italian Leo Fioravanti and put himself in an excellent position to qualify for the 2017 world tour. All week the ultra-smooth natural-footer continued to justify comparisons to greats like Andy Irons and Taj Burrow by taking apart the lumpy beachbreak junk with style and flair, and in an era of shifting dominance in world surfing, the kid looks to be emerging as a significant hope for future Australian title campaigns.
On the women’s side of things, world title frontrunner Courtney Conologue faltered in the quarters, handing the yellow jersey over to Tyler Wright, who finished equal third. Fellow big names Carissa Moore, Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons also bowed out relatively early, leaving Kauains Tatiana Weston-Webb and Malia Manuel to meet in a refreshing final match-up. Despite the conditions, the two surfed with impressive speed and flow, with Tatiana’s forehand attack outpointing Malia’s backhand belts by less than two points. The victory comes as the first of Tatiana’s career at the top level and has pushed her up into fourth on the ratings. Heading into Trestles the world title race remains neck and neck between Tyler and Courtney, with only 550 points separating the two.
