Five Times Filipe Toledo Showed His Class To The Surfing World

This is an appreciation post. 

Filipe Toledo is finally, rightfully the champion of the world, and as the dust settles on the title he graciously won on the slippery cobbles of Lower Trestles, we figured it high time that he had his roses. Filipe’s been around for so long that we (well obviously not us ‘we’, just some of the surf commentariat/fan ‘we’) have started to take for granted what a revolutionary man he is. 

The fact that Fil’s forte isn’t in the tube has long been (unfairly) established - although anyone who watched him cannon through, and get spat out of, romping closeouts in the 2018 Oi Rio Pro final might beg to differ. However, those who can do it all in surfing are generally masters of none. And Filipe’s mastery of high-performance waves, including waves that have long been the bastion of purists like J-Bay, is unparalleled. Perhaps ever. And so, without any further ado, here’s five times Filipe Toledo showed his class to the surfing world. Both in, and out of the water.

1. Snapper Rocks 2015: Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight

World Tour events usually have an event stand-out, and generally, the mantle is shared between the few form guys on tour slugging it out for the title. Every now and then, however, someone rocks up to an event and looks like they’re riding a superbike in a unicycle race, and that was Filipe Toledo’s disposition at Snapper Rocks in 2015. The bank wasn’t great, the waves a little small and a little soft - which, to the unenlightened, is the hardest conditions to surf - and Filipe, was, electrifying. The only person who could come close to the micro madman on the electric green board was Julian Wilson, who Fil subsequently dusted in the final. 

2. J-Bay Back to Back and That Double Oop Wave

Filipe Toledo’s primarily thought of as a “progressive”, “futuristic” surfer. Which he is. But don’t take those adjectives to mean that he spends all of his time in the air and can’t wet his rails. In fact, his power game, as showcased in J-Bay in 2017, and 2018 respectively, is unmatched. Jeffrey’s Bay has long been the bastion of the purists: if you played the word association game with the wave and modern surfers then the first two names off the tongue would likely be Curren and Joel Parkinson. But Filipe took what had been done before, and made it faster, more powerful and more consistent, gouging waves to death when it was offshore with surgeon-like precision. Then taking to the air, landed two monster alley-oops on one wave when the dreaded devil wind was making most of the other pros on tour look like giraffes on roller skates.

3. Brazil Holy Toledo Backside Air

Professional free surfers spend their whole calendar years trying to stomp airs like the one Filipe Toledo landed at the Oi Rio Pro in 2018, and most years no one gets close. Let’s break it down. The wave’s a solid slingshot, all signs pointing towards an end section of doom. Filipe rings every last iota of speed from the thing, eyes his section and then takes flight. Which is when the touch of magic happens. He hits it perfectly, and it sends him up, and out. Like, way out. The rotation through the air is snowboarder in the park off the big kicker perfect in terms of the speed he’s spinning, and the composure and style that his body maintains whilst in the air. 

And then there’s the landing. Most surfers capable of getting up there would’ve landed on the roof, or at least the tail end of the roof, making riding out of the transition unsightly at best, and impossible at worst. Not Filipe. His trajectory was mm perfect, completing his rotation at the precise moment that the last tiny slope of the lip eased his comedown into the flats. Best air ever completed in competition? Name one with more height, a more perfect (hands-free for good measure) rotation and a smoother landing. We’ll wait…

4. Humility in the face of defeat in 2015

They say that you can learn a hell of a lot more about someone by how they react in the face of defeat than you can by how they take the wins. And Filipe’s reaction to narrowly playing bridesmaid to Mick Fanning and eventually Adriano De Souza in the world title race in 2015, when Filipe was only 20, was a show of humility that would’ve made a seasoned pro in any sport proud. The guy was the most hyped surfer on the planet at the time, it was his to throw away, he had a new, young family to think about to further the burden, and when it all came crashing down at the last post he took it on the chin and learned from his mistakes. You’ve got to respect that.

5. 2022: The Monkey off The Back

Surf peeling but lacking a little push is the truest test of a surfer’s technique (despite what the haters are going to say) and in conditions like the ones that greeted the 2022 WSL Finals competitors at Lower Trestles, no one. Repeat, no one, can live with Filipe. Whilst traditionalists might make the point that deciding something so important as a wave as user friendly as Trestles isn’t a true reflection of surfing’s peak (and they might have a point). 

The fact remains that you can only surf what’s in front of you. And it’s important to remember that if it was a straight points play like previous years, Filipe would’ve won anyway, as he led the ratings going into the final contest, and won that for good measure. Filipe Toledo has finally shaken the monkey, and what’s next should put fear into the heart of all those who tug a rashie on to earn a crust.

Congrats Filipe. You deserve it. 

Discover more surf-defying stories about surfers just like Filipe Toledo from the Hurley blog now.