The Fiji Pro delivered the only thing that really matters when the Championship Tour goes to the South Pacific: waves. Good waves. Really good waves. And the men and women surfed at a high level throughout, delivering 10 scores of nine points or better. That included three 10-point rides (all perfect 10s, to be exact) and eight combined heats with excellent heat scores (16 points and higher).
Amazing performances and better waves aside, it can’t be understated how big the event was in the greater picture of two title races. The Fiji Pro marked the end of the CT’s regular season, and next week’s jump to the Trestles Pro marks the beginning of a three (maybe four?) event postseason format. Everybody still left in the Fiji Pro field when action started on Wednesday was already safe from the men’s upcoming transition to a 22-surfer race. But with rankings leader Italo Ferreira eliminated before Finals Day there was a big opportunity for everybody else to close some ground at a critical time. The top eight surfers going into Pipe will get advanced seeding against a Pipe Masters field that will be expanded back out to a full 36 men and 24 women. More importantly, the 15,000 points on offer for the winner of this year’s Pipe Masters will be 50 percent higher than a typical event win.
That means the 4,000-plus points Gabriel Medina gained on Italo by advancing to the final, for example, put a lot more pressure on Ferreira as he tries to hold onto his number-one spot. The lead he now holds over Leo Fioravanti is just over 2,000 points, and the entire top five in the men’s rankings are separated by fewer than 10,000 points.
The race is even tighter now on the women’s side. Carissa Moore claimed a familiar spot and now holds the yellow jersey, but the entire top five are separated by fewer than 6,000 points. Meanwhile, the second win in a row for Erin Brooks even gave her an outside shot at a title push. Last week, Brooks was sitting outside of the top 10. That was following a win at Teahupo’o. Her win in Fiji thrust her into the top 10, and while she’s still sitting far out from the overall lead, she’s riding an undeniable hot streak at a critical time.
