Yesterday, on the same day in two different places on the Brazilian coast, an Argentine and an Ecuadorian defeated a strong contingent of Brazilians on their land; the first, Coco Cianciarulo won the open division of a regional event in Santa Catarina and the second, Mimi Barona, a stage of the QS in Bahia that strengthened her position at the top of the South American ranking of the WSL.

When it comes to South American WSL titles, it has become common for the rest of Latin America to beat Brazil in single events and in titles; last year, for example, there was a Peruvian double: Analí Gómez won the professional category and Sol Aguirre the junior category (in a historic result at an event held in Guarda do Embaú, Brazil – the first title for a non-Brazilian Latina woman in Brazil). And, in the top 5 of the aforementioned table, a Brazilian was not seen until Camila Cassia, in fourth place.

What this new generation of Hispanic-American surfers had never achieved was a victory in Brazil in a QS stage. Looking at the tour data going back to 2008, either the Brazilians, the Australians or the Americans won the QS stages in Brazil; never in that 10-year record had there been a Hispanic-American victory.

These events over the weekend, added to those mentioned above, which have always had a great driving force behind what is possible with Sofía Mulanovich, act as further confirmation of how and how much the air has changed at the female level in Latin America and cannot and should not be overlooked.

Of course, Brazil, a giant reference for current surfing, has a surfer who has been almost a fixture on the CT for several years, Silvana Lima, and now a new adoptee, Tatiana Weston (before, there were Tita Tavares, Andrea Lopes, Jacqueline Silva, to name a few).

There is a clear change of guard that seems likely to last for several years. Of course, the return of a Hispanic American to the CT is missing.