Day three at Teahupo’o was a good one. It wasn’t firing nonstop. There were certainly heats where the Pacific Ocean took a breather (Kanoa Igarashi vs, Alejo Muniz following João Chianca’s battle against Morgan Cibilic was a perfect example), but the Tahiti Pro was, for the most part, action-packed.
One run, in particular, saw a string of heats for the ages. Gabriel Medina and Kelly Slater duked it out in a high-scoring matchup which may be the last time we ever see those two world champs face off. Jack Robinson and Callum Robson followed with a doozy of their own. And then Griffin Colapinto ripped off the heat of his life against Rio Waida. While the result was good and settled for a long time, Colapinto’s near-perfect performance alone was arguably the highlight of the entire day. The Californian put up a perfect 10 (10s from every judge in the tower) and finished the heat with a 9.60 to top it off.
Colapinto credited Slater’s performance for inspiring his own as well as sharing that he’d prodded the GOAT for a few tips on navigating the lineup and conditions.
“It feels magical. This place has a lot of spiritual energy, and it’s really fun to tap into that and play around with it and imagine what’s possible out here,” Colapinto said. “I’ve been doing that ever since I started coming here. You’re playing on the borderline of life and death, moments where it’s just so scary. You get these crazy negative thoughts, worst-case scenario, and you just have to push past it and trust your ability.”
Meanwhile, Slater has looked loose. He’s having a blast with his wildcard. He even admitted after his shootout with Medina that he was momentarily rooting for the Brazilian to pull off a magical comeback just because it’d make such a great story. That’s a wild departure from the hyper-competitive Slater who won 11 world titles.
“Part of me was thinking he’d come back, and part of me was thinking it would be super cool if he did, because it would make the heat such a good story,” he said after the win. “Everyone knows Gabe’s been through a lot lately, highs and lows. We’ve become good friends, and I really appreciate his surfing and his career. It’s tough to come all this way and lose to someone who’s not in the title race. I’m on the other side of that now, so I feel all those emotions, the toughness of the travel, being away from family. When you have a loss, it sucks. That was a very emotional heat. I almost started crying afterward.”
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