Finals Wrap: Rio Pro 2025

After a torturous, drawn out affair, Brazil has wrapped with wins to Cole Houshmand and Molly Picklum following dominant performances in good, but typically wonky surf at Saquarema's Itauna beach. Both Final Five assemblages remain largely unchanged with the only major move being a backfield run from Griffin Colapinto to sit just outside the five.

Three days of competition in janky beachbreak has produced a largely status quo outcome.

Cole (WSL/Othon)

One of the major justifications for holding an event here, a large passionate crowd, did occur, although they were mostly silenced once defending champ Italo Ferreira was eliminated by Ethan Ewing. The Final between Cole Houshmand and Griffin Colapinto was conducted in front of a polite, subdued crowd with the largest reaction coming from a backside finner of Griff's that didn't score.

The status quo is also maintained as far as the Rio Pro's position in the pro surfing world is concerned. Big things sometimes happen but for the most part the reaction of (Western) fans has been a muted indifference. That might sound self-serving but a scan of all the extant live comment threads across Australian and USA websites shows a very weak signal. It doesn't have to be that way.

For a brief moment Brazil flared into the public consciousness. In May 2018 we came out of the first Tub comp in Lemoore (called the Founders Cup) with pundits almost drunk on wavepool hype proclaiming the death of beachbreak comps and Brazil first put up against the wall. Expecting another wobbly close-out what we got instead was a passable imitation of Backdoor over sand. This magical, world-class wave wasn't some remote hard to get to gem - it was at the other end of the same fucking beach!

When we went back there the next year and got it even better it seemed we had solved the Brazilian 'problem' once and for all. A world-class wave when there was swell with wobbly old Itauna there for the heavy lifting if a back-up was required.

Somehow Barrinha was icily and perfunctorily dismissed as an option in the same manner as former CEO Erik Logan's career. Without warning or explanation. We're back to weird and wobbly Itauna - a wave that makes pro surfers look like they are running uphill in deep mud. At least the veil has been removed. Despite vigorous insistence from Mitch Salazar and Chris Cote last year that this was a “world-class” wave, Leo Fioravanti called it ordinary and a “grind” while World No 2 Yago Dora called the wave "very difficult" to surf. After the small wave benchmark set at Trestles it was tough watching pros struggle to show their repertoire.

Yago (WSL/Othon)

To be fair, they got the best of it on Finals Day. After an incredibly slow and boring start where Lakey Peterson and Erin Brooks struggled to find anything on the high tide, the surf improved as the tide drained and then peaked for the Men's Final. For the first time since the event moved to Saquarema in 2017 there was a non-Brazilian winner on the men's side.

The women's side of the event was lacklustre with only eventual winner Molly Picklum able to consistently post double-figure heat totals. She got past Erin Brooks easily in their Semi - the Texan/Canadian now needs a miracle to make the five - and she also made short work of Luana Silva in the Final. Pickles hasn't got a great record at closing out Finals, with this win making it only 3 from 7.

Her opening closeout smash set the tone for the Final and Luana couldn't compose herself enough to put up a meaningful counter until late in the heat, by which time Pickles had nailed an 8 for two turns on a right. Game over with the Brazilian crowd never really getting a chance to insert themselves into the equation.

Molly (WSL/Othon)

The Brazilian fans are loud and sometimes passionate but it's absurd to try and make any comparison with MMA or other combat sports. By chance, I watched a UFC title fight yesterday before the Finals Day at Saquarema. In the main event of the evening the losing combatant was cut badly, knocked out cold by a vicious punch, suffered two more heavy blows to the head whilst unconscious on the canvas while a full stadium bayed for blood. It was as much public human sacrifice as sport.

Nothing in surfing compares, with the possible exception of competition at the Banzai Pipeline where on any given wave you might be knocked unconscious and need to be rescued and resuscitated on the beach. Once Italo had left the building, his year in stasis after a barnstorming start the beach fans were nothing but polite. They had no choice really with a dominant display from Cole over Miggy putting the last Brazilian man out of the event.

Italo (WSL/Diz)

No-one in the five could really strike a decisive blow in Rio. Jordy remains in yellow, Yago and Italo didn't go backwards. Ethan solidifies his spot but is still in danger. Jack Robinson looks shaky but with J-Bay and Teahupoo ahead is still a very good chance of making it to Cloudbreak in September. You get the feeling with such a topsy turvy year there will be at least one more major plot twist in the concluding two events which will shape the 2025 title race.

Prior to Finals Day I had Ethan Ewing pegged as the best surfer of the event. He'd found a unique method of dealing with the slopey, backwashy lefts of Ituana, by design or chance. He reversed the onus of the bottom turn to top turn combination and put the emphasis on the backhand bottom turn. So smooth and savage that even if the top of the wave didn't cup out there was still a score to be had. Please watch his criminally underscored 7.27 in the Elimination Round against Marco Mignot for exhibit A - yes, he also got the top turn in on that one. His closeout hits were also next level – almost at a JJF standard.

That said, all the Moreton Bay sand island parochialism in the world can't ignore that Cole Houshmand was the far superior surfer on Finals Day with Griffin Colapinto not far behind. They got the two right guys there. Even allowing for massively inflated scoring - rides that were high 7's or low 8's got 9's on Finals Day - Houshy eviscerated the lefts with a combination of a leaden backfoot and a finessed approach to keeping the front rails clean through the backwash. Bascially, an improvement on what he did at Trestles.

Cole (WSL/Othon)

At No 12 in the world, he's probably too far back in the field to make a charge for the five but he would not be out of place in Fiji.

The best place for Brazil to be would be in May, as the cut event, with the hungry crowd enjoying the spectacle of pro surfer tears. But that possibility is gone, and absent Barrinha as an option it will continue to be received globally with indifference. Perhaps another legacy of Kelly Slater.

//STEVE SHEARER

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Cero Women’s Final Results:
1 - Molly Picklum (AUS) 15.00
2 - Luana Silva (BRA) 9.23

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Cero Men’s Final Results:
1 - Cole Houshmand (USA) 16.90
2 - Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.40

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Cero Women’s Semifinal Results: 
HEAT 1: Luana Silva (BRA) 10.43 DEF. Caroline Marks (USA) 6.57
HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) 13.06 DEF. Erin Brooks (CAN) 7.60

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Cero Men’s Semifinal Results:
HEAT 1: Cole Houshmand (USA) 15.06 DEF. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.83
HEAT 2: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.84 DEF. Ethan Ewing (AUS) 14.20

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Cero Women’s Quarterfinal Results: 
HEAT 1: Caroline Marks (USA) 12.16 DEF. Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 4.10
HEAT 2: Luana Silva (BRA) 12.80 DEF. Tyler Wright (AUS) 8.84
HEAT 3: Molly Picklum (AUS) 10.50 DEF. Arena Rodriguez (PER) 7.17
HEAT 4: Erin Brooks (CAN) 9.84 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 8.94

VIVO Rio Pro Presented by Corona Cero Men’s Quarterfinal Results: 
HEAT 1: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.33 DEF. Yago Dora (BRA) 10.30
HEAT 2: Cole Houshmand (USA) 13.50 DEF. Jake Marshall (USA) 13.26
HEAT 3: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.90 DEF. Jordy Smith (RSA) 9.80
HEAT 4: Ethan Ewing (AUS) 14.43 DEF. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 13.40