Surfing
Surfing
Meet this summer’s brightest surfing stars
July 2021 is a monumental month in the history of surfing and these nine global stars will be front and centre in this moment. Let's get to know them.
Part of this story
It’s a big summer for surfing and since the top athletes will be converging in Japan from all corners of the surfing world, we thought it a good idea to highlight some of the ones you should be most excited to watch. so you can study up on the competition before the action begins at what will be one of the most important events in surfing history.
Carissa Moore
Carissa Moore has established herself as a powerhouse in women's surfing, a world champ who's not afraid to compete against the guys.
When she was five years old, Riss started surfing with her dad off the beaches of Waikiki in her native Honolulu, Hawaii.
She started collecting wins at NSSA junior surf competitions and top spots at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, where she helped Hawaii win a team victory. In all, she clinched a record 11 NSSA amateur titles, and at age 16 in 2008, she became the youngest champion at a Triple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Reef Hawaiian Pro.
A Costa Rican Cutback with Carissa Moore
© Jason Kenworthy
Backside finner with Carissa Moore
© Jason Kenworthy
Carissa Moore
© Jason Kenworthy/Red Bull Content Pool
In 2010, Riss qualified for her first season on the ASP World Tour, now called the World Surf League. In that debut season, she won two major contests, finished third overall and was named Rookie of the Year. Not bad for a 17-year-old newbie.
The following season, she was a youngster to watch on the World Tour. She lived up to her reputation, winning three events and claiming her first World crown, unseating four-time defending champ Stephanie Gilmore in the process. At 18, she became the youngest person – male or female – to win a surfing world title.
Get to know Riss
Never one to turn down a challenge, that year Riss also became the first woman to compete in Oahu’s Triple Crown of Surfing, typically an all-male event featuring the world’s best surfers.
She took top World Tour honours again in 2013 and 2015. Then, after three quick titles within five years, finishing off the top step of the podium in both 2016 and 2017 required a certain mental adjustment, but she sees it as part of the journey.
Returning to her best form impressively in 2019, Carissa surfed to victory at Jeffreys Bay and Hossegor on her way to a memorable fourth World Surf League title after a four-year gap.
Caroline Marks
A multiple national champion and the youngest female to compete in a World Surf League event, America's Caroline Marks is surfing’s young phenom.
Hacking her way to seventh in the world, Caroline Marks did 2018 in style
© Trevor Moran
Caroline Marks, chucking buckets and making heats
© Trevor Moran
Athough young, Caroline Marks quickly proved she belongs in the big leagues
© Trevor Moran
Caroline Marks backhand blasting en route to Rookie of the Year honours
© Trevor Moran
Forget peer pressure, Caroline’s three older brothers provided all the necessary incentive she needed to ascend to the top ranks in surfing. Despite opting for equestrian competition at a young age, by the age of seven the surfing sibling rivalry won out. And with a surf break across from the family home in Melbourne Beach, Florida, she had the perfect training facility in her own front yard.
Her effort to outperform her brothers elevated her skill set quickly. When the family moved to California, the level of competition also forced her to step up her game.
At the age of 11 she won the Under-12 Surfing America Prime – the US top amateur title – and never looked back. Since then she has won 17 titles, including the 2016 ISA Under-16 Championship, the 2015 and 2016 Vans U.S. Open Pro Junior Championships and consecutive National Scholastic Surfing Association titles in 2014-2015.
But her meteoric rise through the professional ranks, from turning pro aged just 13 to qualifying for the US surf team, is just the beginning for the goofy-footer. Having secured second-place overall on the WSL Championship tour in 2019 and first at Super Girl Pro in 2020, Caroline looks set to continue her ascent to the top of the surfing world.
Teresa Bonvalot
A two-time European junior surfing champion from Portugal, Teresa Bonvalot hopes to one day emulate the achievements of the legendary Kelly Slater.
Teresa Bonvalot
© Leo Francis/Red Bull Content Pool
Teresa is already considered one of the best Portuguese surfers ever. Her journey in surfing started when she was nine and stood up on a surfboard for the first time after years of bodyboarding. The surfing bug never left and, even as a young girl, she decided she wanted to make a living out of surfing. “I want to be the girl version of Kelly Slater,” she remembers saying.
Teresa started competing in Portugal’s National Championships in 2012, winning the first of her two consecutive titles in 2014. In 2013, she got her first wildcard to compete in the Portuguese stop of the World Championship Tour.
Portuguese surfer Teresa Bonvalot winning her round one heat
© Pablo Jimenez/ISA
Three years later, in 2016, she became the first Portuguese female surfer to win WSL’s european junior title. She successfully defended that title in 2017, her last year as a junior surfer.
Her trophy list is long, but still doesn’t match her ambitions. Teresa’s goal is to “train and get better, train and get better, train and get better” until she qualifies for the Championship Tour.
Ítalo Ferreira
Hailing from Brazil's northeastern coast, Ítalo Ferreira is a world champion surfer with his sights set on further major contest victories.
Italo Ferreira destroys an unsuspecting section
© Sean Evans/ISA
Ítalo was born in the small community of Baía Formosa, in Rio Grande do Norte on the northeastern coast of Brazil, in 1994, and fell in love with surfing at a young age.
He first started surfing with the boards borrowed from his cousins and perhaps the defining moment of his young life occurred when he was only 12 years old – he was discovered by legendary Brazilian surf coach, Luiz 'Pinga' Campos, who was then marketing director of one of the world's leading surf brands.
Italo Ferreira, going hard at Pipeline
© Ryan Miller/Red Bull Content Pool
Soon after, Ítalo won two rounds of the Junior World Championship in 2011 (finishing runner-up in the category overall), won the Brazilian Championship and in 2014, and finally qualified for the World Championship Tour – the elite of world surfing.
He came out stomping in his debut season and was named Rookie of the Year, with an impressive seventh-placed finish in the rankings.
In 2019, Ítalo started by winning the first tour stop of the year on the Australian Gold Coast. Later, he also won the inaugural Red Bull Airborne event.
Italo Ferreira's big spin
© Ben Reed
His stellar season would continue with a victory in Peniche (Portugal), and finals appearances in Jeffreys Bay (South Africa) and Hossegor (France).
The final event of the year was the legendary Pipe Masters, where Ítalo contested the title with his compatriot Gabriel Medina, a duel of the titans that eventually saw Ítalo crowned world champion.
Kolohe Andino
A multiple USA National Champion, Kolohe Andino is one of the most followed and photographed surfers on the planet.
Kolohe Andino stands tall as a slice of the Pacific folds over him
© Trevor Moran
Kolohe Andino buries his rail and lets the fins sing at Haleiwa
© Trevor Moran
Kolohe Andino and his biggest mentor, dad Dino
© Jimmy Wilson
A second-generation pro surfer – Kolohe's dad, Dino, was a star in the 80s – it didn’t take long for Kolohe to come out from his father’s shadow. He started winning state and national championships at just seven years old and winning open class championships by the age of 15.
He had a breakout year in 2011 at age 17, winning the Vans Pro Junior and five events on the Men's Qualifying Series, and has been a full-time competitor on the Men's Championship Tour since 2012.
Get to know Kolohe
He married his longtime sweetheart Madison in January 2018, at a star-studded celebration in San Clemente, California that was stacked with several generations of the biggest names in surfing.
In his ninth full season on the elite pro circuit, Kolohe has his sights set on winning his first WSL Championship Tour title.
Julian Wilson
Julian Wilson was born into a family of surfers on the Sunshine Coast, and, ever since he can remember, he's ridden waves, so it should come as no shock that he quickly scooped national titles in both longboarding and shortboarding.
Julian Wilson taking some time out
© Ryan Miller/Red Bull Content Pool
Julian Wilson is the green flash
© Scotty Hammonds
Jules Wilson in Soorts Hossegor
© Ryan Miller/Red Bull Content Pool
Fundamentals game strong
© Ryan Miller
It was the latter that he was more attracted to, honing it to a point where victories at Pro Juniors were frequent and a 2006 ISA World Junior title was an easy step. In 2007 he invented his own move called the Sushi Roll, which (as hard as it sounds) is a mixture between a Backside Rodeo and a Superman.
Julian is the youngest-ever winner of the Surfer Poll award for Best Performance of the Year, which he clocked for his part in Quiksilver’s Young Guns III. 2010 saw Julian release his own signature film, Scratching the Surface, which was the result of a year's hiatus from competing.
Get to know Julian
Over the years, Jules has won everything from the Rip Curl Pro to the Mr Price Pro to the Vans Triple Crown Series. In 2015, he garnered international renown after he heroically paddled towards fellow competitor and close friend Mick Fanning as Fanning was (now infamously) wrestling a great white shark at Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa. For his efforts, Julian won a Spirit of Sport award at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards 2015, as well as being recognised with Outstanding Bravery at the Pride of Australia Awards 2015.
Throughout all of this, Julian has also become known for his outstanding freesurfing clips, which show off the progression of his skills like nothing else.
Michel Bourez
Hailing from Tahiti, Michel Bourez is one of the most powerful surfers the sport has ever seen. Known as 'The Spartan' because of his Adonis-like physique and strength in waves of all sizes, Michel qualified for the World Tour in 2008.
Michel Bourez after a surf in Torquay, Australia
© Trevor Moran / Red Bull Content Pool
Michel Bourez in action at Margaret River
© Trevor Moran / Red Bull Content Pool
Michel Bourez after a hard day's work
© Ryan Miller/Red Bull Content Pool
Hang loose!
© Trevor Moran/Red Bull Content Pool
When Michel made it to the semi-finals of the 2013 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, he earned a third place finish, but he came in hot. "Spartan’s been the top surfer of the whole event for me," said former world champion Joel Parkinson at the time. "He looks like an animal at the moment. A new surfer, a new competitor, really focused. I love that passion he has on a wave."
Get to know Michel
Kelly Slater agreed: "You put him on a right with an open face and power to the wave and he's gonna match it better than anyone. There are not many guys on tour who are as strong as him. When he sets his shoulders and pushes with his legs, it's pretty much a thing of beauty."
Kanoa Igarashi
Japanese surfer Kanoa Igarashi feels as natural on a board as he does on his own two feet. For him, the ocean is his home.
Kanoa in his element
© Morgan Maassen/Red Bull Content Pool
Kanoa Igarashi surfs at Margaret River, April 2016
© Trevor Moran / Red Bull Content Pool
Kanoa Igarashi surfs at Torquay, March 2016
© Ryan Miller/Red Bull Content Pool
Kanoa Igarashi at Huntington Beach
© Marv Watson/Red Bull Content Pool
Kanoa has been surfing for as long as he can remember. His dad first put him on a surfboard in Huntington Beach, USA at the age of just three. He took to the sport with natural talent, competing in his first surf contest (which he won) at the age of six.
Since then, Kanoa, whose parents immigrated to the US from Tokyo, Japan, has taken the surf world by storm. At age 14, he became the youngest surfer ever to win the US National Championships for under-18s and that same year won the Governor’s Cup at the Surfing America Championships and took second in the King of Groms Championships.
Get to know Kanoa
The following year, a series of strong performances saw him grab a place on the World Tour a year ahead of his own schedule: "Everybody says to 'take it heat by heat', but that's truly what worked for me."
In addition to competitions, Igarashi has appeared in a bunch of stellar surf films, but his ultimate goal is to one day win the ASP World Championships – surfing's elite tour. If things keep going his way, that day might also be sooner than he thinks. “It’s a confidence booster knowing that younger people can still compete on the same level as the top pros.” he says.
Leonardo Fioravanti
The best surfer to have ever come out of Italy, Leonardo Fioravanti started surfing at the age of four after he was inspired by his brother, Marco, who was a surfer in the Italian National Team. Leo’s talent was evident immediately and within just three years he began to surf internationally in the Maldives, Australia, France and Brazil while juggling his burgeoning surfing prowess with school commitments back home in Rome.
Leonardo Fioravanti surfs in Coolangatta
© Trevor Moran / Red Bull Content Pool
Leonardo Fioravanti tall in a Mentawaian drainer
© Pietro Franca
Leonardo Fioravanti, surfing pro
© Lucia Griggi / Red Bull Content Pool
Hooking up in Hookipa
© Erik Aeder/Red Bull Content Pool
His early achievements include winning the Ocean 4 Teens in Italy in 2005 and the Moustik Tour in Capbreton, France in 2007. He was also Under 12 Champion in Portugal and was selected by the Italian National Team to take part in the King of the Groms competition.
Fast forward five years and Leo had learned from some of the world's best surfers at the Red Bull Rising Camp in Australia and won the 25th Quiksilver Maider Arosteguy (Under 14), the Rip Curl Search at Biarritz in France (Under 14), and the Italian leg of the Quiksilver King of the Groms at Marina di Massa. He'd also competed in The European Under 14 Championship Final at Lacanau, France, and the World Championship in Panama.
Leo stepped up a gear in 2013 when he won the several legs of the Pro Junior of European Professional Junior Circuit, which allowed him to enter The European WQS in 2014 and storm to second place. He also attained a wildcard, which allowed him to compete in the Quiksilver Pro France, his first World Tour event.
Get to know Leo
Leonardo then went on to win in Galicia against Marco Giorgi and took part in the Sata Pro at Madeira and the Cascais Pro. These results put him in the top 100 ranking list and allowed him to compete in Hawaii for the last events of the season. He passed the first heats in Haleiwa and Sunset with very high scores and finished the year 23rd in the world ranking.
But then Leonardo suffered a bad injury. During the first heat of The Volcom Pro Pipeline in 2015, he fell and broke two vertebrae. It was so severe that he risked being wheelchair-bound and was kept from surfing for seven months. During this time, Leonardo underwent surgery, intense physiotherapy and saw a therapist.
Wide-open and running
© Ryan Miller
But Leonardo was undeterred and focused on strengthening his pelvis, quadriceps and hips. Then, in October 2015, eight months after his accident, he returned to surfing competitions and won the ISA Under-18 world title in Oceanside, California and became the first Italian to win the award. He also took part in WQS in Portugal, Brazil and Hawaii in the same year to seal his comeback.
Next up Leonardo progressed to surfing big waves and entered the WSL Junior Championship in Portugal. He competed in the first heats and scored some pretty high scores, but was beaten in the semi-final by Lucas Silvera of Brazil. After that, he notched up two second place awards at WQS, which led to him forcing his way into the higher echelons of the world rankings. He proved his worth once again in 2016 when he beat Kelly Slater and made it onto the full Championship Tour in 2019.
Part of this story
