WSL Tour Finals: Griffin Colapinto's big break at home
The WSL Championship Tour Finals take place at the surfer's home break and after narrow misses in the last two years, Colapinto is back on track to fight for the world title.
Surfing
The World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour finals take place at Griffin Colapinto's home break and after narrowly missing qualification in 2021 and 2022, this year, the surfer is in.
Beginning on 8 September, the San Clemente native will go head-to-head with reigning world champion Filipe Toledo on the wave he grew up surfing for the chance to win his first world title, as well as California’s first since Tom Curren in 1990.
The WSL Championship Tour is an annual event where the world’s best male and female surfers compete in a worldwide circuit for the chance to win surfing’s ultimate prize: the world title.
The 2023 tour also served as the first opportunity for surfers to earn their spot at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 where competition will go down at Teahupo’o, the infamous wave in Tahiti that is widely regarded as one of the most challenging in the world.
Can Colapinto bounce back from two years of near misses at the 'crown jewel' of South California surfing?
This year, the WSL Finals kick off on 8 September at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California… which also happens to be Griffin Colapinto’s backyard.
“I think it’s my destiny to be world champion,” Colapinto said in the Rip Curl Finals teaser video.
The reef break is a couple of miles from the heart of San Clemente and is largely known as the “crown jewel” of Southern California surfing. It is the third consecutive year that the finals are held at Lower Trestles.
Leading up to the highly anticipated world title event, the athletes compete in Tahiti, Hawaii, Australia, Portugal, South Africa, Brazil, California and El Salvador in hopes of landing themselves in the final five.
After narrow misses in the last two years, this year, Griffin Colapinto finally has the opportunity to perform on his home break.
In 2022, the USA favourite suffered a heart-wrenching loss at the Outerknown Tahiti Pro when he needed one last win to clinch his spot in the final five. In the round of 16, he was up with just over four minutes left in the heat before Brazil’s Yago Dora gave an eight-point performance, surpassing Colapinto. Needing 5.94 points to regain his lead and secure his spot in the final five, he caught a wave with 10 seconds to go but could earn just 5.70 points.
He was knocked out of the running by only 0.24 points.
It was a similar story the year before, as he finished the tour in seventh place, missing the cut-off by a mere two spots.
The Rip Curl Finals are set up in a sudden-death bracket style with Australian fifth seed Jack Robinson and Brazilian fourth seed Joao Chianca facing off first with the winner advancing to the next round. The rest of the competition goes as follows:
- Match one: No.5 Jack Robinson vs. No.4 Joao Chianca
- Match two: No.3 Ethan Ewing vs. winner of match one
- Match three: No.2 Griffin Colapinto vs. winner of match two
- Title match (best of three): No.1 Filipe Toledo vs. winner of match three
If Colapinto wants to win the world title at home, he will have to win round three and then beat Toledo twice in the title match.
The two have faced off against each other in the water three times this year. Toledo took the win over Colapinto in the final at Hurley Pro in Oahu and Surf City El Salvador Pro, while Colapinto beat the Brazilian in the semi-final at Surf Ranch Pro.
The first and second-seeded surfers each have advantages over each other, with Colapinto bringing his lifetime of experience surfing at Lower Trestles to the table, while Toledo is the defending world champion having won the title at the same break in 2022.
Filipe Toledo and Griffin Colapinto could face off in the 2023 WSL Finals at Lower Trestles, California.
The women’s finals will be held alongside the men’s and three of the women in the final five are representing Team USA.
Current world No.1 and 2020 Olympic champion Carissa Moore will attempt to go for her sixth world title and regain her position on top of the podium after last year’s upset by Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore. She will be joined on this quest by 17-year-old rookie Caitlin “Caity” Simmers and 2020 Olympian Caroline Marks.