Filipe Toledo Wins First Jewel in Vans Triple Crown

pros

Nov 22, 2017

Filipe Toledo is bringing the heat! In a fierce come-from-behind battle, Filipe landed himself first in Monday's Hawaiian Pro.

This makes Filipe the first Brazilian in history to lock in the first jewel of the WSL Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. This also marks the Brazilian powerhouse's third big win of 2017-following CT titles in J-Bay and Trestles.

Throughout the comp, contestants were battling a windy, heavy current and lots of chop from the river hitting the Haleiwa peak, and going into the finals, a break in weather was matched by a standout performance from 19-year-old QS surfer Griffin Colapinto. This left Filipe and fellow CT surfers at a deficit as another classic North Shore squall rolled through to keep things interesting.

That's when Filipe turned it on. As the skies cleared, Filipe laid out a series of airs that, paired with his signature aggressive snaps, landed him a commanding lead. Filipe described his last wave-an 8.87 that culminated with him sending it off the lip-to the WSL, saying Once I hit the lip I felt my board break and I landed on the foam, I was scared that the board would separate as I rode out. Spoiler: he made it in just fine.

The win places Filipe's world ranking at No. 9 and secures his place as the leader in the race for the Triple Crown. This also puts Filipe in the company of recent Hawaiian Pro Champions Dusty Payne (2014), Wade Carmichael (2015) and John John Florence (2016). We can only hope that history repeats itself and the Hawaiian Pro victor takes the crown, as was the case for John John and many before him.

We're stoked to see Filipe surfing his brains out to earn these Ws. Can't wait to see what he throws next; congratulations, Filipe!

LINK:	https://gopro.com/news/filipe-toledo-wins-2017-hawaiian-pro-vans-tripl...
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