Latest news with #ItaloFerreira
The South African
4 days ago
- Sport
- The South African
The RISE of South Africa's Jordy Smith to No 1 in the world in 2025
When South Africa's Jordy Smith paddles out at Lower Trestles in California next week, he will be wearing the WSL no. 1 rank yellow jersey. With two event wins in 2025 – the only time he's achieved the feat in a single season – the 37-year old is surfing the best he's ever done. And he even snagged himself a brand-new SUV for winning the 'Aussie Treble' last month. In fact, the last time he wore the coveted no. 1 yellow jersey was way back in 2017. The Durban-born surfer currently sits on 36 130 Championship Tour points. With the next best competitor, Brazil's Italo Ferreira, on 31 290. South Africa's Jordy Smith is a two-time WSL tour Runner-Up, never a world champion. Is this the year the big bru converts? All you need to know about Jordy's record-breaking run so far in 2025. Video: WSL on YouTube Nevertheless, if you haven't been following South Africa's Jordy Smith in 2025, don't worry, we'll catch you up. The WSL crafted a brilliant recap of his record-breaking season so far, that's taken him to the yellow jersey (watch above) in 2025. Included are his best waves surfed in key heats. And his all-important victories in Punta Roca, El Salvador, and Margaret River, Western Australia, of course. The event window for the Trestles Pro next week, on Monday 9 June 2025. Not only has South Africa's Jordy Smith won at this high-performance wave before, but he even relocated to San Clemente for a period of time. As such, he considers it a home away from home and will hope to bank another good haul of points in yellow. You can watch all the action live on the WSL YouTube channel. It's been eight years since South Africa'a Jordy Smith donned the yellow jersey. Can he convert his no. 1 position into a world title in 2025? Image: WSL on Facebook From California, the tour goes to Brazil in late June, before the circus pulls into J-Bay from 11-20 July 2025. A two-time winner, the world-class right-hand point-break is unarguably Smith's favourite event (and many other competitors'). At the end the Tahiti Pro in August, the top five competitors on the world rankings will battle it out for a world title in man-on-man heats at the WSL Finals in Fiji. Be sure to diarise the last five events of the 2025 season to keep track of South Africa's Jordy Smith as he strives for his first world title: June 9-17 – Trestles Pro (USA) June 21-29 – Vivo Rio Pro (Brazil) July 11-20 – J-Bay Open (SA) August 7-16 – Tahiti Pro (Tahiti) August 27-September 4 – WSL Finals Fiji (Fiji) Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Italo Ferreira and Sofia Larocca Announce That They Are Going to Be Parents
Italo Ferreira has had a lot of , but he's about to embark on the biggest one of all: fatherhood. The 31-year-old World Champion announced that his partner Sofia Larocca was pregnant via Instagram. The post was simply captioned with a Biblical reading from Psalm 127, 'Children are a heritage from the Lord, a reward from him… Like arrows in the hands of a warrior.' Larocca, who is a nutritionist, had a bit more to say in her announcement. 'My son/daughter, you have already transformed me,' she wrote. 'I already feel like a new person; a new woman. It is a mix of feelings. Everything is very new. Many times I don't recognize myself as I used to when I look in the mirror, when I notice my completely different disposition, the nausea… now everything is getting better! Even in the difficult moments, I am grateful for having you. It is truly inexplicable to think that I am your house, your home, your food….' You can read her full statement on Instagram. Congratulations to the parents-to-be!
Reuters
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Toledo wins instant classic over wildcard Wilson at Gold Coast Pro
May 10 (Reuters) - Brazil's two-time world champion Felipe Toledo beat Australian wildcard Julian Wilson to win the Gold Coast Pro in an instant pro surfing classic on Saturday, a decade after the two met at the finals of the same event. The 36-year-old Wilson stepped away from the tour in 2021 as COVID travel restrictions and the demands of a young family took a toll, but has targeted 2025 as his comeback year and won the trials to get a spot in the main event. Wilson took down a number of top surfers, including 2019 world champion Italo Ferreira and Japan's 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Kanoa Igarashi on his run to the final with some of the biggest and most technical aerials seen all season. But Toledo, who rejoined the tour this year after taking a mental health break in 2024, was also in rare form in high quality, head-high waves at the right-hand point break of Burleigh Heads. Toledo scored the event's only perfect 10 for a deep, long tube and alley-oop aerial in his semifinal against compatriot Alejo Muniz and started the final with an excellent score for a full rotation air. Wilson quickly responded with two high-risk spins of his own but his lead was short-lived as Toledo racked up two even better scores, combining searing turns, deep tubes and lofty airs. Toledo's hefty two wave total of 17.60 out of 20 looked to be enough but Wilson refused to give up. He scored an 8.8 late in the final before somewhat controversially winning priority, exchanging some angry words with his rival and catching one last wave as the clock ticked down. Needing another 8.8, his final score was 8.4, leaving him 0.4 points short at 17.20 out of 20 to give Toledo the win - the same result as when they met in the 2015 final. "It's not easy to step away from the thing you love, to prioritise your family and watch from the sidelines, and these surfers inspire me so much. This is what I was born to do," Wilson said, paying credit to Toledo and his chanting Brazilian fans. Hawaii's Bettylou Sakura Johnson broke through to win her first world championship tour event with a dominant performance over Australian veteran Sally Fitzgibbons in the women's finals. Both Fitzgibbons, 34, and Johnson, 20, struggled in the early part of the season, with neither progressing past the quarterfinals in the first five events of the tour. Johnson got off to an ideal start in their final, scoring an 8.5 out of 10 for a series of powerful turns on a fast-grinding wave. Before her rival could get a decent score, Johnson backed it up for a 6.5 and a 15-point heat total. "This is the best feeling in the world and I'm over the moon to have my first win here on the Gold Coast," said Johnson. "Yeah, this is what winning feels like and I want to keep winning." The wins boost both Johnson and Toledo to sixth in the world. The tour next heads to the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia for stop number seven, after which the men's and women's fields will be cut by a third for the remaining four events. The top five surfers will then face off in a one-day, winner-takes-all finale in Fiji in August.
News.com.au
09-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Wildcard Aussie surfer Julian Wilson topples rankings leader Italo Ferreira
Another Australian comeback star has turned giant-killer on the Gold Coast, with veteran surfer Julian Wilson taking down rankings leader Italo Ferreira despite nearly missing his start time. A day after eight-time world champ Steph Gilmore eliminated reigning world champ Caity Simmers in her first event in 18 months, Wilson, 37, who had to earn his wildcard into the event at Burleigh Heads by winning the qualifying event, stunned his Brazilian opponent in the round of 32. Wilson, 36, and a former world No.2, stepped away from the tour in 2021 for mental health reasons, but his climb back to the tour now includes another win over Ferreira. The Queenslander has now won all five clashes with the Brazilian and won despite thinking his heat was due for a start half an hour later than it did. 'It got the heart-rate going very quickly but it kind of worked in my favour,' he told the WSL. 'I didn't really get to watch the conditions, I planned to have another 30 minutes to get in the water and ride some waves. 'It kind of worked in my favour cause the line-up's super tricky this morning and I felt like I adapted pretty well as I think if I had expectations of better waves it would have been harder to tune into what was actually going on.' Wilson's cause was helped when Ferreira buckled his board trying an aerial manoeuvre early in the heat and had to paddle to shore for a replacement before trying to re-enter the water over rocks rather than use a jetski as time ticked away. While the win was monumental, Wilson will now have to take down Frenchman Marco Mignot in the round of 16 to keep his title hopes alive. The women's quarter-finals, with Gilmore among five Australians still alive, will have to wait.
The Age
25-04-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Aussie surfing star faces world No.1
Australian surfing star Xavier Huxtable faces world No.1 Italo Ferreira at the Rip Curl Pro.
