Surfing-Judging controversy taints Colapinto wave pool win

Griffin Colapinto beat Brazil's Italo Ferreira in a high-scoring final at the Surf Ranch Pro in California on Sunday but the American's win in the wave pool was tainted by claims from some Brazilians about the fairness of the judging.

Deep in California cow country more than 100 miles (160 km) from the coast, Lemoore's Surf Ranch has been something of a divisive stop on the World Surf League (WSL) tour for both surfers and spectators.

While the giant, solar powered foil delivers unrivalled, high-performance waves peeling for 700 yards (640 meters), the predictability and struggles with the format of the competition have drawn criticism.

Improvements this year included more head-to-head battles and the introduction of a single scored wave, do-or-die night session from which just two men of 12 losers from the first round progressed to the quarter-finals.

Both Colapinto and Tokyo Olympic champion Ferreira survived that crucible and rode their momentum on finals day, mixing high-risk aerials with deep tube rides and huge turns to progress to the championship round.

Colapinto took the lead in his final run, and would have gone further ahead if he had landed a giant flip.

The high-energy Ferreira thought he'd done enough on his second-last ride but the score came up short and the Brazilian fell on his last ride to hand the title to Colapinto.

"I'm so psyched," said Colapinto. "It hasn't really soaked in yet. But I made three finals (this year), I was like, you gotta win one eventually, so yeah, I got one!"

Not everyone was happy with the result, however, with three-times world champion Gabriel Medina adding to criticisms of the judging by members of the "Brazilian Storm" that has dominated men's surfing in recent years.

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