Latest news with #KanoaIgarashi
Los Angeles Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Kanoa Igarashi, ranked No. 3 in the world, happy to be back home for U.S. Open of Surfing
Kanoa Igarashi might have a little trouble recognizing the competition when the Huntington Beach resident paddles out on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier throughout next week during the U.S. Open of Surfing. Over the past six months, Igarashi has been laser-focused on surfing on the World Surf League's Championship Tour (CT) in an effort to win a world championship. Currently ranked No. 3 in the world, Igarashi will be the only surfer still with a chance to win a world title competing in the Open, which begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, Aug. 3, when the men's and women's winners will be crowned. All the other men's division athletes still in the hunt for a world championship have chosen not to compete and instead focus on the CT contest that begins Aug. 7 in Tahiti. That includes Igarashi's longtime rival Griffin Colapinto of San Clemente, the 2021 U.S. Open winner who is currently ranked No. 6 in the world. The Tahiti event is the final contest of the CT's 11-event regular season, with the top five in the season's point standings qualifying for the championship finals in Fiji during the final week of August. Igarashi admitted that skipping the Open to focus on Tahiti and securing a spot in the finals did cross his mind, but it was never a serious consideration. 'I definitely thought about it, but at the end of the day, whether or not I'm in the U.S. Open, I'm just doing my daily routine,' he said. 'As long as I can get to Tahiti a few days in advance, and get rid of the jet lag, I'll be fine. 'I'd be surfing Huntington every single day anyway, so surfing in the U.S. Open doesn't tire me out, thankfully. And I get to spend time with my friends, spend time at home, I'm sleeping in my bed, and I'm only driving three minutes to the pier. I feel like I'm recovering for Tahiti while competing in the U.S. Open. I feel like if it was going to tire me out or distract me, I wouldn't compete. Competing at home, competing in the U.S. Open, it just rejuvenates me.' Indeed, the Open holds a special place in Igarashi's heart. He won back-to-back Open crowns in 2017 and '18, and puts those contest victories at the top of his professional career. 'It was my first big win, so when I won the U.S. Open I was like, OK I think I can move on and do bigger things,' he said. 'It was a confidence booster. To this day, it's right up there with my Bali win and right up there with my [Olympic] silver medal, it's all on the same platform.' The win in Bali in 2019 is the only CT contest Igarashi has won in what is now his ninth season. But he's been to a final six times, including twice this season. It's a reflection of the progress the 27-year-old has made over the years since qualifying for the CT when he was just 17. On paper, Igarshi's biggest competition in the Open will be Mexico's Alan Cleland, who is ranked No. 19 in the world and won last year's Open. Cleland will compete in Tahiti, but is too far down in the points standings to have a chance at qualifying for the finals. Other Southern California surfers who will compete include the San Clemente crew — Kolohe Andino, Kade Matson and Jett Schilling — Long Beach's Nolan Rapoza, Malibu's Taro Watanabe, Encinitas' Levi Slawson and Ventura's Dimitri Poulos. On the women's side, two names to watch for are San Clemente's Sawyer Lindblad, currently ranked No. 11 in the world and the 2023 Open winner, and Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons, still going strong at age 34 and coming off back-to-back appearances in the Open finals. Fitzgibbons won it last year, and finished runner-up to Lindblad in 2023. For Fitzgibbons, the contest is a big one in her effort to qualify for next year's CT, which would be her 17th season on surfing's biggest stage. The Open is a Challenger Series event, with the top seven in the standings qualifying for next year's CT. Fitzgibbons is currently ranked No. 2 in the Challenger Series, but the Open is only the third of the seven contests that will determine the qualifiers. Fitzgibbons has never won a world title but has finished in the top five a remarkable 10 times, including three consecutive second-place finishes in 2010, '11 and '12. Caroline Marks, from San Clemente by way of Florida, is currently ranked No. 6 in the world but will not compete at the Open, instead focusing on Tahiti in an effort to get into the top five of the women's standings. Other Southern California women who will surf in the Open include San Clemente's Bella Kenworthy, Kirra Pinkerton and Eden Walla; Encinitas' Alyssa Spencer, Carlsbad's Reid Von Wagoner and Malibu's Talia Swindal. The Huntington Beach Longboard Classic also will be held, with the log riders competition starting Saturday and going through July 30. Out of the water, competitors will perform Saturday and Sunday in freestyle motocross (FMX), a high-flying action sport where riders perform aerial tricks on dirt bikes, using large ramps to launch themselves into the air.
CNA
15-06-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Surfing-Dora takes aerial route to Trestles triumph
High-flying Brazilian Yago Dora soared to victory over Japan's Kanoa Igarashi in the final of the Lexus Trestles Pro in Southern California on Saturday, while Hawaii's Bettylou Sakura Johnson took out her second event of surfing's 2025 world tour. Lower Trestles, the surfing venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, provided an ideal canvas for the world's best surfers to showcase their high-performance surfing, and Dora's aerial antics proved unstoppable. Concentrating on the left-handers of the Lower's peak, Dora landed a dizzying array of spins and grabs as he took down event favourites Ethan Ewing of Australia in the quarterfinals and hometown hero Griffin Colapinto in the semis. Just seconds into the final against Igarashi, Dora stomped a giant air reverse on an overhead left, combining it with some sharp turns for a near-perfect 9.53 out of 10. The 29-year-old kept with the winning formula, racking up three more excellent scores on the lefts, the best of which, an 8.37, gave him a two-wave total of 17.9 out of a possible 20. Igarashi, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, stayed in contention with some stylish and high-risk rides of his own, but could not get ahead of the Brazilian and ended with a two-wave total of 16.07. Lower Trestles has for the past four years hosted the World Surf League's one-day winner-takes-all Final's day for the top five surfers at the end of the regular season. It was moved to event number eight on this year's tour, giving Dora the chance to surf Trestles in competition for the first time. "I've been watching the Finals from home the last few years and just dreaming about this little left here. I finally had the opportunity, and to come out with the win is very special," said Dora, who also won in Portugal this year. Johnson, on the women's side, took a different approach to Dora, focusing on the long right-handers on the cobblestone point and getting her best scores throughout the final day of competition with sharp carves and critical turns in the lip. The 20-year-old from Oahu's North Shore took down former world and Olympic champion Caroline Marks in their quarterfinal and Californian Sawyer Lindblad in the semis to meet Australia's Molly Picklum in the final. Johnson started with an excellent 8 for two huge turns, improving to a 9 for a series of carves and a big vertical re-entry. With the waves taking a breather late in the final, Johnson's 17 point total was too much for Picklum, who finished with a two-wave score of 14.23. "I came up top today, and I'm super grateful. We got to surf amazing waves today, so I'm super happy to bring it home," said Johnson, who moves up to number 4 in the world rankings. The tour next heads to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil later this month for stop number nine of 11. The top five men and women will then compete for the world title in Fiji.
Reuters
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Dora takes aerial route to Trestles triumph
June 14 (Reuters) - High-flying Brazilian Yago Dora soared to victory over Japan's Kanoa Igarashi in the final of the Lexus Trestles Pro in Southern California on Saturday, while Hawaii's Bettylou Sakura Johnson took out her second event of surfing's 2025 world tour. Lower Trestles, the surfing venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, provided an ideal canvas for the world's best surfers to showcase their high-performance surfing, and Dora's aerial antics proved unstoppable. Concentrating on the left-handers of the Lower's peak, Dora landed a dizzying array of spins and grabs as he took down event favourites Ethan Ewing of Australia in the quarterfinals and hometown hero Griffin Colapinto in the semis. Just seconds into the final against Igarashi, Dora stomped a giant air reverse on an overhead left, combining it with some sharp turns for a near-perfect 9.53 out of 10. The 29-year-old kept with the winning formula, racking up three more excellent scores on the lefts, the best of which, an 8.37, gave him a two-wave total of 17.9 out of a possible 20. Igarashi, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, stayed in contention with some stylish and high-risk rides of his own, but could not get ahead of the Brazilian and ended with a two-wave total of 16.07. Lower Trestles has for the past four years hosted the World Surf League's one-day winner-takes-all Final's day for the top five surfers at the end of the regular season. It was moved to event number eight on this year's tour, giving Dora the chance to surf Trestles in competition for the first time. "I've been watching the Finals from home the last few years and just dreaming about this little left here. I finally had the opportunity, and to come out with the win is very special," said Dora, who also won in Portugal this year. Johnson, on the women's side, took a different approach to Dora, focusing on the long right-handers on the cobblestone point and getting her best scores throughout the final day of competition with sharp carves and critical turns in the lip. The 20-year-old from Oahu's North Shore took down former world and Olympic champion Caroline Marks in their quarterfinal and Californian Sawyer Lindblad in the semis to meet Australia's Molly Picklum in the final. Johnson started with an excellent 8 for two huge turns, improving to a 9 for a series of carves and a big vertical re-entry. With the waves taking a breather late in the final, Johnson's 17 point total was too much for Picklum, who finished with a two-wave score of 14.23. "I came up top today, and I'm super grateful. We got to surf amazing waves today, so I'm super happy to bring it home," said Johnson, who moves up to number 4 in the world rankings. The tour next heads to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil later this month for stop number nine of 11. The top five men and women will then compete for the world title in Fiji.
Reuters
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Toledo wins instant classic over wildcard Wilson at Gold Coast Pro
May 10 (Reuters) - Brazil's two-time world champion Felipe Toledo beat Australian wildcard Julian Wilson to win the Gold Coast Pro in an instant pro surfing classic on Saturday, a decade after the two met at the finals of the same event. The 36-year-old Wilson stepped away from the tour in 2021 as COVID travel restrictions and the demands of a young family took a toll, but has targeted 2025 as his comeback year and won the trials to get a spot in the main event. Wilson took down a number of top surfers, including 2019 world champion Italo Ferreira and Japan's 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Kanoa Igarashi on his run to the final with some of the biggest and most technical aerials seen all season. But Toledo, who rejoined the tour this year after taking a mental health break in 2024, was also in rare form in high quality, head-high waves at the right-hand point break of Burleigh Heads. Toledo scored the event's only perfect 10 for a deep, long tube and alley-oop aerial in his semifinal against compatriot Alejo Muniz and started the final with an excellent score for a full rotation air. Wilson quickly responded with two high-risk spins of his own but his lead was short-lived as Toledo racked up two even better scores, combining searing turns, deep tubes and lofty airs. Toledo's hefty two wave total of 17.60 out of 20 looked to be enough but Wilson refused to give up. He scored an 8.8 late in the final before somewhat controversially winning priority, exchanging some angry words with his rival and catching one last wave as the clock ticked down. Needing another 8.8, his final score was 8.4, leaving him 0.4 points short at 17.20 out of 20 to give Toledo the win - the same result as when they met in the 2015 final. "It's not easy to step away from the thing you love, to prioritise your family and watch from the sidelines, and these surfers inspire me so much. This is what I was born to do," Wilson said, paying credit to Toledo and his chanting Brazilian fans. Hawaii's Bettylou Sakura Johnson broke through to win her first world championship tour event with a dominant performance over Australian veteran Sally Fitzgibbons in the women's finals. Both Fitzgibbons, 34, and Johnson, 20, struggled in the early part of the season, with neither progressing past the quarterfinals in the first five events of the tour. Johnson got off to an ideal start in their final, scoring an 8.5 out of 10 for a series of powerful turns on a fast-grinding wave. Before her rival could get a decent score, Johnson backed it up for a 6.5 and a 15-point heat total. "This is the best feeling in the world and I'm over the moon to have my first win here on the Gold Coast," said Johnson. "Yeah, this is what winning feels like and I want to keep winning." The wins boost both Johnson and Toledo to sixth in the world. The tour next heads to the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia for stop number seven, after which the men's and women's fields will be cut by a third for the remaining four events. The top five surfers will then face off in a one-day, winner-takes-all finale in Fiji in August.
