2023’s reigning world champ Filipe Toledo dropped out of the Pipe Pro, citing “food poisoning” as the cause.
Wednesday saw the start of the Lexus Pipe Pro, the first stop on the 2024 Championship Tour. The action happened at Pipeline, one of the world’s deadliest waves and a proving ground for the world’s elite.
Photo by Matt Paul Catalano on Unsplash
Filipe Toledo, 2022 and 2023’s back-to-back world champion, surfed a shocker of a heat, scoring a 1.77. Before his anticipated heat in the elimination round against Hawaii’s Seth Moniz and Brazil’s Deivid Silva, Toledo dropped out of the event.
The World Reacts
After his elimination round heat, which saw double-overhead plus waves throughout the round, Toledo told event officials and fans that he had food poisoning.
Shortly after, social media channels blew up, with many people claiming that it was Toledo’s fear of gnarly reefs that made him bow out.
In response, Toledo wrote on Social Media, “To the critics on duty, and the world champions who comment on social media, believe what you want, I’m not here to prove anything to you! My health is my priority! To those cheering me on, thank you very much! We are together haha we will be back better and stronger!’”
Toledo’s Rocky History with Heaving Reef Breaks
Wednesday’s mishap was just one of many poor performances in waves of consequence. From Pipeline to Tahiti, Toledo’s history in big waves and the criticism that follows is a constant stain on the 2x World Champion’s image.
Photo by Matt Paul Catalano on Unsplash
In 2015, Toledo surfed a scoreless heat at Tahiti’s famous left-hand slab, Teahupo’o. However, since then, Toledo has had improved performances at the gnarly Tahitian slab.
Toledo’s dad admitted on a podcast, “The truth is that he is afraid of hitting the coral bottom. That is the fear he has, of hitting himself there and really hurting himself and suffering an irreversible injury. It’s something that stays in his head…”
This year, the 2024 Paris Olympics’ surfing event will run on Teahupo’s unforgiving reef. Already a controversial event, the world will be looking on to see if the world champ can find his footing and silence the critics once and for all.