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Finals Day Recap: Hennessy, Mamiya Win Hurley Pro Sunset Beach, Take Yellow Leaders Jerseys
Jake Howard
After four straight days of heavy, unrelenting action on Oahu's North Shore, it was a career moment for both Brisa Hennessy and Barron Mamiya who have not only won the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach but also taken over the top spots on the WSL Leaderboard and will be wearing the yellow leader's jersey when the Championship Tour heads to Portugal next month.
For Hennessy, who faced Hawaiian veteran Malia Manuel in the Final, this marks her first Championship Tour victory and the first CT win ever for a surfer from Costa Rica.
"I have no words, I've dreamed about this moment but I never thought it was possible," Hennessy beamed from the water immediately after the Final. "To all those people that supported me, I did it."
Hennessy represented Costa Rica in last summer's Olympic debut in Japan and requalified for the CT after finishing second on the 2021 Challenger Series. The seventh career Final for Manuel, unfortunately she has now finished runner-up in all of them. She will take solace in knowing she had a great Island leg of the Tour and goes into the Europe leg in prime form.
For the men, Mamiya has officially arrived as a big-time player on the world's stage. Competing at Sunset as the injury replacement for Costa Rica's Carlos Munoz, this is his first CT victory. And it was just a couple weeks ago that he broke the Internet in his heat against 11-time World Champ Kelly Slater in a buzz-beater heat for the ages. Ironically, Mamiya came up on the short end of that heat but now takes the yellow leader's jersey off of Slater.
"I can't believe it, I literally can't believe it. I thought Pipe was the event I was going to do good in," said Mamiya with tears in his eyes.
In the first Semifinals, surfing like a man possessed, Caio Ibelli came out with clear intent, but his run was cut short by Mamiya, who slowly worked himself into attack mode.
By heat's ended he found himself trailing, needing a minor 3.30 score. A small set hit the point, Mamiya got one last chance. Hammering the smaller waves all the way to the beach, he ended up on the sand waiting for the judge's call.
"I couldn't believe he let me go. I rode it all the way through Val's, I pretty much face-planted on the reef," an out-of-gas Mamiya said afterwards.
In the second Semi, both Ethan Ewing and Kanoa Igarashi had been surfing tack sharp all event long. Igarashi opened up with a spicy 7.17
For the women, in a generational battle of surfers from Hawaii, veteran Manuel took on rookie Gabriela Bryan. Leaning into her year's of CT experience, Manuel fought through a grindy heat, which provided more evidence that the next generation of women have arrived on the CT.
It was a similar scenario for Hennessy in her Semifinal against Bettylou Sakura Johnson. From start to finish, Hennessy was the in-from surfer of the day, but once again, watch out for that youth movement.
"Bettylou's so dangerous out there. Her carve is so dangerous," Hennessy explained afterwards. "These rookie girls are so good."
Up next, the 2022 Championship Tour will head to Supertubos in Peniche, Portugal for the MEO Pro Portugal. The waiting period kicks off on March 3. Keep it locked right here at WorldSurfLeague.com as the race for the Rip Curl WSL Finals continues.
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