With Swell on Tap For Fiji Pro, Men's World Title Race Barrels into Cloudbreak
What a month for professional surfing this has been. Hot on the back of an Olympics blockbuster held in some of the best Pacific slabs ever seen for an event, we head a few island chains south to Fiji, where the Final Five will be decided amidst a forecasted four to six feet of swell at Cloudbreak; a wave that hasn’t featured on the WSL Championship Tour for seven long years.
Heading into the Fiji Pro, the final event of the 2024 regular season, by averaging out the ratings tallies required to qualify for the WSL Finals at Trestles from the past two World Tour seasons, we can get a rough idea of what will be required to qualify for this year’s Final Five. World number eight, Gabriel Medina, will likely have to win the event to make the big dance. Described by 2012 World Champ, Joel Parkinson, as the “best to ever surf Cloudbreak,” he’s got the drive and the skillset to pull off one of the great boil overs. An absolute master of Pacific slabs—from Pipe, to Tahiti, to Cloudbreak—he’ll be drawing on his entire arsenal of searing carves, huge full rotation alley oops, and technical tube rides to get the win given the forecast.
Jordy Smith, at seventh on the leaderboard, does not have a great relationship with Cloudbreak. His best result in five starts is a 5th amidst a raft of 13ths, leaving him with an uphill battle to get the better of the futuristic Brazilian firebrands he’s sandwiched between in Medina and Yago Dora.
Related: Who Will Win at Cloudbreak? SURFER Staff Makes Picks for Fiji Pro.
At sixth, Dora, could not have a skillset better suited to the roping, rippable lefts of Cloudbreak. He brings red hot form into the event with a runner-ups in his last two starts. His only result in Fiji was a 25th as a wildcard way back in 2012 (beaten by Joel Parkinson). This go around, Dora must make sure he finishes ahead of Medina, Smith and rival in fifth place, Ethan Ewing, who finds himself a marginal 300 points ahead.
For Ewing, Cloudbreak will be an out and out dogfight with the three hungry surfers beneath him, particularly Dora. Raised on sand-bottom beachbreaks and points, he’s renowned for a freakish frontside rail game and will literally have his back against the wall at Cloudbreak as tries to hold the fort against a pair of Brazilian goofies. A solid showing in in the Olympics in some of the heaviest conditions ever seen for a contest there (eight to ten-foot onshore west bowl Teahupoo) will provide a major confidence boost and proves his credibility in the Pacific theatre beyond any doubt. Given the forecast, however, his fate will be decided by his ability to put up combinations of backside carves, snaps and down-the-line tubes. With a set of biomechanics long likened to the late great Andy Irons, a master at Cloudbreak, Ewing has what it takes to get it done in Fiji.
Related: Water Angle: Soli Bailey’s Magic Fijian Carpet Ride
Italo Ferreira in fourth, sitting on 34,045 points, has a solid 2,000 point buffer between himself and those looking to unseat him. He brings in the best run of results he’s had since winning the world title in 2019, with two event wins in his last three starts, including a clinic in maxing left slabs at Teahupo’o. Like Dora and Medina, his frontside approach is as locked, loaded and full of looping aerials as any surfer to ever take to the water in Fiji. His best result at this location was a 5th in his rookie year (beaten by Julian Wilson). A semifinal finish will likely lock in his spot at Trestles. Anything less than a quarterfinal, however, will having him chewing his nails to the stump.
Jack Robinson is on the exact same ratings tally. A shaman of slabs with a Slater-esque ability to conjure up cones in any kind of conditions, Cloudbreak will have the Margaret River magician salivating. An uncharacteristic third round exit at pumping Teahupo’o in the Tahiti Pro proves he’s not invincible in these conditions, though any perceived vulnerabilities were quickly dispelled by a silver medal-winning performance at the Olympics in Tahiti. Robinson has never competed at Cloudbreak, but anyone who has seen footage of him at Tombstones will attest he is god-like in roping left reef breaks. He will be required to mix it up with backside carves and snaps to get the biscuits in this event, though it’s a discipline he’s well proven in as his dramatic win at 2022 G-Land Pro showed.
For Griff, a quarterfinal finish will likely lock him in for a second world title tilt at Trestles, though even a poor showing could still get him there depending on how his competitors go. John John Florence, meanwhile, is already locked for his first crack at the Final Five format at Trestles and has been spotted doing laps Lowers in preparation for the big dance.
The last event of the regular season is almost at hand, it’s going to be a hoot to see where everyone lands and what the 2024 Final Five eventually looks like.
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