Highlights: Griffin Colapinto, Carissa Moore Win Surf Ranch Pro
ICYMI, the Surf Ranch Pro wrapped over the weekend.
For those watching, either via broadcast or on-the-ground in Lemoore, CA, it was a two-day marathon filled with drama, monotony, glory, upsets, big airs, big fails, long tubes, controversy, and the lingering aroma of cow poop (for those on location).
For all the highlights, hit play below.
In the end, Griffin Colapinto took the win over Italo Ferreira on the men’s side, and Carissa Moore beat out Caroline Marks in the women’s draw.
A bit of drama there, on both sides, particularly the men.
But first, here’s a word from both the winners.
“It means everything to win a CT in California, especially to win here because everyone gets the same opportunity and there’s so much that goes into your physical ability,” said Colapinto. “A lot of hard work went into this. I’m feeling really good and just so psyched, all my friends and family are here so to win with them here is just insane. That Final was so crazy and it’s trippy to watch Italo’s (Ferreira) waves and hope he fell so I’m just over the moon. I had no clue I was No. 1 until you told me and it’s a crazy feeling being in the yellow jersey.”
“You can’t wipe the smile off my face right now and to be sharing the podium with these amazing humans is an honor,” said Moore. “I think all of us as athletes just want to perform to the best of our potential and I definitely think there was more for me to give out here. But, I felt happy and present, and that’s what matters most to me. I didn't really imagine it would go quite this good and I'm just really happy. I have a lot of family and friends here, and watching all over the world, so I really appreciate all the love. It's a perfect wave, but it's really difficult to ride. It took a couple surfs to figure out the timing again and get to calm the nerves, but I just felt really good.”
The biggest drama of the event went down during the men’s quarterfinals, when Ethan Ewing took down former event-winner Gabriel Medina in a contentious heat. The two had the same heat total (16.67), but Ewing took the win because he had the single highest scoring wave of the heat (a 9.07). And yes, controversy ensued.
After the event, Medina voiced his frustration with the WSL’s judging panel. And Brazilian surf fans even lobbed some threats towards Ewing. But this is nothing new; it’ll likely blow over by the time the Tour heads to the next event, which is in El Salvador.
The Surf City El Salvador Pro kicks off June 9th-18th, stay tuned.
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