Best moment in life drives Filipe Toledo in fight for world title

Filipe Toledo’s unquestionable talent has sometimes run into a problem: Filipe Toledo.

The career of the 27-year-old from São Paulo already qualifies him as one of the great Brazilian surfers in history, but it was only when he gained greater control over his own mind that he was able to reach his full potential. “In peace”, as he defines it, he is currently experiencing “the best moment” of his life and also “the peak” of his career.

“We look at the results. I noticed that it’s when I’m comfortable that the results appear”, summed up the fired Worlds leader, in an interview with Sheet. “It’s about being okay with myself, first of all. And, man, it’s been getting really good results for me. I’ve been calm and very comfortable.”

There were periods when this was not so. Aspiring for the 2015 season title –he reached the final stage with a real chance–, he had to settle for tenth place in the following two years. In 2017, he was marked by a moment of fury against the judges and was even suspended by the WSL (World Surfing League). Then came depression.

“I went through really difficult times, 2019 was a very complicated year for me, psychologically, emotionally. And I realized that talking about the situation with someone, a professional, is fundamental. That’s what helped me and today it helps me identify when I see that I may be returning to a bad, sad, depressive behavior. Today, I know how to handle this and get over this situation”, he said.

One of the reasons for the unhappiness on the circuit was the frequent distance between their children, Mahina, now five, and Koa, four. His wife, Ananda, now 28 years old, tried to help him and did so, within her means. “If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know what would happen. But the time came when she didn’t have the resources anymore, because she’s not a professional in the area. Then I started talking to a professional.”

Filipe’s face was already different last season. Accompanied in some stages by his wife, children and father –ex-surfer Ricardo Toledo, 54–, he spent a good part of the championship smiling. He won two stages, advanced to the decisive one, in San Clemente, in the United States, and was defeated by an inspired Gabriel Medina.

When the final heat was over, the three-time world champion put his face to the runner-up’s and warned: “Your time will come”.

Since then, Toledo dominated the championship. Medina was absent from the first half of the 2022 competition – precisely to take care of his mental health, a subject he talked about briefly with Filipe – and, when he returned, he was unable to enter the fight for the title. That it would already have an owner, or almost that, if the competition was carried out in a straight points system.

The surfer from Ubatuba reached the final of five of the eight stages carried out so far. With 50,040 points, he has a very comfortable lead over the runner-up, Australian Jack Robinson, who has 40,225. But since 2021, the league has adopted a contest system in which the top five finishers battle for the trophy in one day.

Last year, this allowed Filipe, third in the ranking, to fight for the Worlds with Medina, who led comfortably until the final round. This time, it will be Toledo who will be waiting for a challenger – the first enters the stage already in the final, which will take place again in the waves of Lower Trestles, in San Clemente, where Toledo lives.

Its front in the ranking is so good that the first place is almost certain at the end of the ten qualifying legs of the circuit. This would allow the Brazilian to give up entering the tournament in Jeffreys Bay, in South Africa, or in Tahiti, in French Polynesia. That’s not the plan.

“I don’t think now is the time to take my foot off. It’s time to keep the pace, the training focus, go all out and get to Trestles as number one, to theoretically have an advantage. I don’t think saving would be ideal. that maybe [tenha uma preocupação] in relation to injuries and such, but it is difficult for us to predict that. The focus is on winning and arriving as number one,” she explained.

For this, Toledo has a trump card: “I live the best moment of my life”.