WSL Oi Rio Pro Fantasy Surfer
With the WSL Oi Rio Pro starting in the next 48 hours we thought we'd give you some insight into the comp before it kicks off. With Some Fantasy Surfer picks as well if you're interested.
Oi Rio Pro Brazil.
Last Ran in 2019.
Surf Forecast:
Conditions are looking small for the start of the contest with swell filling in by the weekend. We Will get a much more detailed forecast once the event window opens up.
Surfers to pick:
Ladies: Brissa Hennessy & Johanne Defay have the highest heat win percentages of the year at 54% but Brazill being short punchy beach breaks I’d back someone like Lakey or Tatiana who tend to have a bit more flair in the pocket to do better. Also of note is Sally Fitz who is coming into this comp as an injury wildcard but is actually the reigning champ and has won there a total of 3 times since 2012.
Men’s: Obviously Filipe is the favourite going into this comp. He’s won three out of the last 5 events there, is the current world number one and is coming off a 2nd place that a lot of people thought he should have won. So he’ll be fired up, he also has a heat win percentage of 74% which is just silly. Medina is another obvious one – he still has a lot of work to do if he wants to qualify for the final 5 and he does super well when he’s under pressure.
Need more convincing that Filipe is the guy to beat? see below:
Fun Fact: Kelly Slater Hates The Brazil Contest
In the last 8 times that the Brazil contest has run Kelly has only competed in 4 of them. Usually claiming some kind of vague/mysterious injury but also stating that he got sick one year from the sea water (which some scientist in 2015 said equated to levels of raw sewage) so doesn’t enjoy going back. 2022 is no different with Kelly withdrawing from both the El Salvador contest and the Oi Rio Pro.
Additional Thoughts:
Tensions are high! If you’ve seen any posts by the WSL on Instagram from the last few events, you’ll see a lot of abuse being hurled at them from the Brazilian fans. This is from a lot of tight heats seemingly going against the Brazilian surfers on tour in what a lot of instagram users are calling a judging conspiracy - specifically to keep Brazilians out of the finals. El Salvador was another can of Gasoline thrown on the fire with Filipe Toledo losing in the last 5 minutes to Californian Griffin Calipinto. Resulting in hundreds of comments on social media including "World Shame League", "give us the judges names!" and a lot of clown face emoji's. This casued a responce from Brazilian tour surfers Jadson Andre and Yago Dora trying to keep the peace. Jadson commenting on one of Griffins posts: "You Brazilian who comes here on Griffin's page to talk nonsense about the drums or him, you don't represent me!!! The kid just did his job, more respect please. Thanks.". And Yago following that up with: "Brazilians who come here to talk shit to the athlete who dedicates his whole life to surfing, it's okay people! The guy is just doing his job, whether the result was fair or not is not the athlete's fault!"
This could all come to ahead on the sands at Rio where 10,000 Passionate fans will be adding a lot of pressure to the Judging panel to keep things "fair".
Fantasy Picks from Hugh:
Hugh is one of the owners here at Exit Surf and styles himself as "kinda knowledgeable" in fantasy surfer- although his results this year have been very hit and miss. below are his picks for the Oi Rio Pro:
Women:
- Stephanie Gilmore
- Brisa Hennessy (power Surfer)
- Lakey Peterson
- Sally Fitzgibbons
Men:
- Filipe Toledo (Power Surfer)
- Italo Ferreira
- Ethan Ewing
- Kolohe Andino
- Jordy Smith
- Connor O'Leary
- Gabriel Medina
- Yago Dora
Other Staff picks to win
Nick
- Laides = Carissa Moore
- Men's = Gabriel Medina
Ben
- Ladies = Carissa Moore
- Men's = Filipe Toledo
Will
- Ladies = Tatiana Weston-Webb
- Men's = Gabriel Medina
Fletch
- Ladies = Tatiana Weston-Webb
- Men's = Gabriel Medina