June 26 (Reuters) – California’s Sawyer Lindblad won her first surfing world championship tour event at Brazil’s Rio Pro on Friday with a victory over French teenager Tya Zebrowski, while Brazil’s reigning world champion Yago Dora soared to his first win of the season.
In a low scoring women’s final at Saquarema, near Rio de Janeiro, Lindblad – the 2024 rookie of the year – took an early lead with a couple of sub-four point scores as both surfers struggled to find the right waves in the small, wonky and backwash-affected conditions for a two-wave total of 7.67 points out of a possible 20.
With the clock ticking down and needing a modest score, Zebrowski took off on a wave but couldn’t complete it and ended with a two-wave total of 6.10.
“I’m really emotional right now. I’ve worked so hard for this, and yeah, I feel like I’ve gotten second so many times, and so happy it was finally my day,” said the 20-year-old Lindblad, who had lost her previous three finals appearances.
Zebrowski, the youngest ever to qualify for the world tour at just 14, had a tough road to her first final, beating eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore and then five-time world champion Carissa Moore in the earlier rounds.
In tricky conditions, Dora’s win in the men’s final over Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti propelled him to No.3 in the rankings, among a pack of five Brazilians now chasing the Roman, who climbed to No.1 halfway through the 12-stop world tour.
Having taken down Australian Ethan Ewing in their semifinal, Dora seized control of the final with a full rotation aerial on his backhand for an 8.50 out of 10. He backed it up with similar turn on a smaller wave for a 6.50, giving him a healthy two-wave total of 15.
Fioravanti, who waited more than a decade to win his first championship tour event earlier this month in El Salvador, fought his way back with a solid turn-to-aerial combination for a 7.50. But the 28-year-old couldn’t find another big score to end with a two-wave total of 13.17 out of 20.
“Oh my god, it’s unbelievable. How many people are here with the rain and the storm?” said Dora. “I’m so thankful for the energy – that filled me up, for sure. I thought it was going to be an empty beach today.”
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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