Hawai‘i’s Carissa Moore in Second Headed into Finals Day at Jeep Surf Ranch Pro

Women’s Surf Ranch Pro Leaderboard Top 4:

1 – Johanne Defay (FRA) 16.63
2 – Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.17
3 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.93
4 – Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 14.83

Johanne Defay (FRA) and Filipe Toledo (BRA) top the women’s and men’s leaderboards as they head into finals day at the  Jeep Surf Ranch Pro presented by Adobe. The event is the sixth stop of the World Surf League Championship Tour and is being held in Leemore, California.

A dominant performance from Johanne Defay, the 2019 event runner-up, saw her finish Saturday in first place on the event leaderboard. The Olympic qualifier and current World No. 5 earned an 8.50 and an 8.13 and moves one step closer to her place in the Semifinals, which will be decided after the women’s Bonus Run.

“It feels good to get some good scores,” Defay told the WSL. “There was no wind at that moment, so the wave was really good… I’m excited for tomorrow. I want to be able to show a bit more in the next round.”

The four-time reigning WSL Champion Carissa Moore of Hawaiʻi concluded Saturday in second place on the event leaderboard.

“It’s been a really fun season so far,” said Moore. “People tell me I have a big lead, but actually it’s not that big of a lead if you do the throwaways. I still have work to do, I need to keep the foot on the gas and keep giving my best.”

Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) and Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) sit in third and fourth place respectively with Caroline Marks (USA) just below the Semifinals cut line in fifth place. The top six will look to improve their scores when they start Day 3 with a Bonus Run.

Surfers sitting below the Top 12 cutline for women at the end of day were eliminated from competition, including Amuro Tsuzuki (JPN) and Brisa Hennessy (CRI) who will now refocus on surfing’s Olympic debut in Tokyo next month.

Click here for full women’s leaderboard.

Men’s Surf Ranch Pro Leaderboard Top 8:

1 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 17.80
2 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.00
3 – Kanoa Igarashi (JPN) 15.33
4 – Ethan Ewing (AUS) 14.54
5 – Griffin Colapinto (USA) 14.53
6 – Yago Dora (BRA) 14.37
7 – Owen Wright (AUS) 14.27
8 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.80

Two-time WSL Champion Gabriel Medina (BRA) became the first surfer to clinch a spot in the WSL Final 5 and will officially be competing for the World Title at the Rip Curl WSL Finals in September.

“It feels amazing. I feel blessed to have put in some good performances in Australia and now here,” said Medina. “This year’s been an amazing journey, I’m enjoying every moment of it, and I’m so ready for the finals. It was my goal this year, so I’m glad I got it. See you soon, Trestles.”

With a combined score of 17.00 (out of a possible 20), Medina finished Saturday in second place on the event leaderboard, behind fellow Brazilian Filipe Toledo, who held onto the top spot with an excellent 8.93 in his second run.

“I’ve won here at Surf Ranch before, so I know how the waves are here,” said Medina. “My boards are really good right now, which gives me a lot of confidence. I’m taking it wave by wave, and I’m ready to put in a good show tomorrow.”

Maui’s Eli Hanneman and Seth Moniz from Honolulu were eliminated from the competition.

Click here for full men’s leaderboard.

The Jeep Surf Ranch Pro will be broadcast live on WorldSurfLeague.com from June 18-20 2021.