In the final against Medina last Saturday at the Newcastle Pro, second stage of the CT 2020-2021, Italo Ferreira once again won an event with his backside aerial that has become one of his main trademarks.

There were those in the surfer's career that were incredible and others that were not so much, but the judges have learned to buy it, always rewarding him with high scores.

The last one, reviewing the history of his aerials, was one of the worst along with the controversial final with Kolohe in Duranbah 2019, however the judges paid it as the second best wave of the grand final, 7,77, less than a point worse than Medina's best in which he flowed with several sharp backside attacks.

Either way, this move has helped Italo win his 2019 world title, both ISA and WSL, and put himself on the map of today's best surfers:

1: One of the best: In Portugal 2015 to beat Medina in the quarter-finals

Italo has definitely established himself as a real candidate to win a world title after defeating the current defending champion, Gabriel Medina, with this madness.

The sea was big and choppy in supertubes and the man from Baía Formosa used that energy to fly the best of this backside aerial count. Despite flying in a heavy section and completing two more maneuvers, the judges gave him 8,6.

2: To close with a flourish in Keramas  

In 2018, Italo had three wins but failed to take the title, he didn't even finish second or third, he finished the year in fourth. There must be few surfers in history who managed to place so low with three wins in the same season.

His inconsistency was his main weakness, but when he managed to put everything in its place, he beat everyone. In this edition of the Balinese event, he did just that and in the final, when he should have shined the most, he shone.

After surfing several good waves, he decided to put the final nail in the coffin of Michel Bourez with a high and well-executed full rotation. He received a 9,6 for this combination of maneuvers.

3: The most controversial: Final against Kolohe in Duranbah

The waves were some of the worst for a final day of a CT in several years. It looked like a QS on the US East Coast at its worst. Californian Kolohe Andino earned his elusive first CT win (which continues to elude him).

The judges gave the Californian a hard time on his first wave, in which he did about eight maneuvers, several of them powerful, including an aerial at the beginning. But the Californian kept his composure and the lead after a better aerial.

With two minutes left, Kolohe had priority and a little girl came in that Kolohe let pass. Italo went, stomped, stomped and flew dirty and not even high enough to turn with a full rotation. The judges gave him one of the saddest 7,07 in history.

He gave a lot to talk about, but he ended up being the champion and at the end of the season he won the world title.

4: The ISA world title winner, the 10th who actually didn't deserve to be one 

A maneuver that requires an incredible effort to complete cannot be a 10. It should be a 10 if it is done perfectly, for there is a reason why perfection is achieved.

But be careful, don't underestimate him too much, it was a great aerial and the landing on the water, which wasn't perfect, was dramatic and incredible. How did he manage to stay upright? Only he and God know.

Incredibly, in that final, Kolohe Andino, who had an impressive performance, came second with 17,06 and Italo added 17,77.

5: The one from the championship the other day

Although Medina has already got an arch-enemy into his head that makes him surf in a strange way, the gap between the good wave of the San Pablo native must have been greater than that of Ferreira.

There are aerials and aerials and on that wave, Ferreira tapped and tapped to find himself in a dirty way with the section, not taking off upwards but forwards and completing a fairly normal rotation, not as close to the excellent 7,77.

Medina still pushed hard to lose, how many series in history has he failed to get a four-point wave? It's hard to find a precedent for that, much more so in finals.