2019 World Champion Italo Ferreira is one of the most explosive surfers in the business, known for his high-energy approach and willingness to entertain at all costs. His win over Gabriel Medina during a Pipeline showdown in 2019 was considered one of the sport’s greatest ever finishes.

Until, that is, the Brazilian claimed surfing’s first Olympic Gold Medal at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Italo’s infectious personality and visible passion, not to mention his surf showmanship, grabbed the headlines, and the mainstream’s attention.

Ferreira learned to surf on a three-foot-long lid of a coolbox his father used to transport fish to sell to restaurants in Baia Formosa, a small coastal town in the far north of Brazil. After moving on to a real board, Italo's early progress was first noticed and then nurtured by Jadson Andre and the celebrated scout and coach Luiz “Pinga” Campos.

Ferreira first gained notoriety on the Championship Tour during his 2015 rookie season with a spellbinding aerial attack and vicious rail game. During his breakout year, he made the Semifinals in Rio, and the Quarterfinals in Fiji, Tahiti, and France before making his first CT Final in Portugal. Italo ran away with the Rookie of the Year award after finishing his remarkable year as the World No. 7.

From that time on, many considered him a serious Title threat, including his hero Mick Fanning. After that rookie year, however, the kid from Baia Formosa endured a few ups and downs. He had bright spots in 2016 with Semifinal appearances at Bells and Margaret River, but was stopped in Round Five seven times, and fell to No. 15. He looked on track to rebound in 2017 after a strong fifth-place finish at Snapper, but two days after the event, he tore ligaments in his ankle, and he missed the next three stops.

Bouncing back almost immediately in 2018, Ferreira had three event wins at Bells, Keramas, and Supertubos, jumping to No. 4 on the CT rankings. In 2019 Ferreira had an incredible back-end to the year finishing runner-up in France and taking out the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal heading into the Billabong Pipe Masters. At Pipe, Ferreira showed all his class and all his potential in winning both the Final and the World Title despite immense pressure from Gabriel Medina. Medina would turn the tables and take him out in the WSL Finals in 2021 further fermenting a great surfing rivalry of the modern age.

Instagram: @italoferreira