The SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro is the current stop on the WSL Championship Tour, which is held in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia. It’s the penultimate event before the Rip Curl Finals, and it’s being held at the same spot where the 2024 Olympics will be held, so there’s a lot of anticipation among surfing fans. Surfers come to Teahupo’o for the tremendous difficulties presented by the waves, which may be twice as tall as the average surfer. There was a great contest in Heat 8 of the Opening Round amongst three surfers from different corners of the globe, and they did not disappoint the Tahitian spectators.

Italian surfer Leonardo Fioravanti had a stellar beginning to his Tahiti adventure as he won the “Wave of the Day” in the same heat. The WSL themselves recognized this achievement by posting about it on social media.

No fear while surfing the gnarly Tahitian waves

Leonardo Fioravanti, Matthew McGillivray, and Ryan Callinan battled it out in Heat 8 of the Tahiti Pro’s first round. Three of the surfers don’t have tickets to the Rip Curl Finals, but a victory in Tahiti might earn them a spot on their country’s Olympic team for the following year. The waves were challenging, but Fioravanti rode the first one like it was nothing. Although the opening wave of the Heat was not very large, the Italian surfer immediately began a barrel. The surfer still had some tricks up his sleeve, so he decided to come out of the barrel early.

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Fioravanti rode the wave forward after emerging from the barrel, then unexpectedly turned around and rode it back in an amazing cutback. Although he did not complete the wave, it was named “Wave of the Day” and earned him a score of 8.83 from the judges. The surfer landed an 8.10 on his next wave, placing him far ahead of his heat’s other competitors and ensuring his advancement to the round of 16 at the Tahiti Pro.

Leonardo Fioravanti’s pursuit of victory at the Tahiti Pro seems to be proceeding in the correct direction as he progresses to the round of 16. The surfer’s year got off to a great start as he reached the championship round of the Billabong Pro Pipeline.

Final heat at the Pipeline

In the final round of the Billabong Pro Pipeline, Leonardo Fioravanti competed against Jack Robinson, an Australian surfer. Both surfers had a perfect start to the 2023 WSL season, winning every matchup along the way to this point. However, in surfing, there can be only one victor, and the outcome of their last battle depended on the state of the waves.

Robinson earned a 3.17 after having a rough start to the finals, while Fioravanti countered with a 4.00. The pressure was on for both surfers since their scores were low. The Italian surfer had a 3.47 on his fourth wave, but Robinson’s 6.00 on his sixth wave was enough to win him the Billabong Pro Pipeline.

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