Dora takes aerial route to Trestles triumph
FILE PHOTO: Surfing - World Surf League - Tahiti Pro - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - May 30, 2024 Brazil's Yago Dora in action during the round of 16 heat 3 REUTERS/Thomas Bevilacqua/File Photo
High-flying Brazilian Yago Dora soared to victory over Japan's Kanoa Igarashi in the final of the Lexus Trestles Pro in Southern California on Saturday, while Hawaii's Bettylou Sakura Johnson took out her second event of surfing's 2025 world tour.
Lower Trestles, the surfing venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, provided an ideal canvas for the world's best surfers to showcase their high-performance surfing, and Dora's aerial antics proved unstoppable.
Concentrating on the left-handers of the Lower's peak, Dora landed a dizzying array of spins and grabs as he took down event favourites Ethan Ewing of Australia in the quarterfinals and hometown hero Griffin Colapinto in the semis.
Just seconds into the final against Igarashi, Dora stomped a giant air reverse on an overhead left, combining it with some sharp turns for a near-perfect 9.53 out of 10.
The 29-year-old kept with the winning formula, racking up three more excellent scores on the lefts, the best of which, an 8.37, gave him a two-wave total of 17.9 out of a possible 20.
Igarashi, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, stayed in contention with some stylish and high-risk rides of his own, but could not get ahead of the Brazilian and ended with a two-wave total of 16.07.
Lower Trestles has for the past four years hosted the World Surf League's one-day winner-takes-all Final's day for the top five surfers at the end of the regular season. It was moved to event number eight on this year's tour, giving Dora the chance to surf Trestles in competition for the first time.
"I've been watching the Finals from home the last few years and just dreaming about this little left here. I finally had the opportunity, and to come out with the win is very special," said Dora, who also won in Portugal this year.
Johnson, on the women's side, took a different approach to Dora, focusing on the long right-handers on the cobblestone point and getting her best scores throughout the final day of competition with sharp carves and critical turns in the lip.
The 20-year-old from Oahu's North Shore took down former world and Olympic champion Caroline Marks in their quarterfinal and Californian Sawyer Lindblad in the semis to meet Australia's Molly Picklum in the final.
Johnson started with an excellent 8 for two huge turns, improving to a 9 for a series of carves and a big vertical re-entry. With the waves taking a breather late in the final, Johnson's 17 point total was too much for Picklum, who finished with a two-wave score of 14.23.
"I came up top today, and I'm super grateful. We got to surf amazing waves today, so I'm super happy to bring it home," said Johnson, who moves up to number 4 in the world rankings.
The tour next heads to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil later this month for stop number nine of 11. The top five men and women will then compete for the world title in Fiji. REUTERS
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