Presents Billabong - Billabong Peru  - Cover photo: WSL/Diz

The third time was the charm: Miguel Tudela was invited to three CTs, in the first he was injured, in the second he made it to the elimination round but lost to Italo and in Brazil he won his first head-to-head series of his life in a CT.

The result speaks well of Miguel in every aspect: He is a master at Pipe, at Mavericks, at home and at Saquarema; waves that have nothing to do with the ones he grew up surfing. He also says that he does not hesitate when it comes to doing a high-level maneuver under pressure, with one minute on the clock.

He knew that his time had come to shine brightly, to knock out the best and become a key piece in the definition of the 2022 world title.

The other thing that is not a small thing is that there are very few surfers who, by pure merit, receive invitations to important events. There were 700 Brazilians gnashing their teeth to be in the CT of Saqua, but the leader of the regional ranking is him because he dominated the Galapagos and Iquique. Knowing that the biggest stage of the year will be in Arica, the Peruvian is well positioned to get into the challengers and then look for his permanent place in the CT, where he belongs since he started surfing.

Below is the exchange after his participation in Rio de Janeiro.

You probably wanted to win the event, but it was a good result anyway. What is your assessment?
I think it's a positive balance, especially because of the experience of having measured myself against the best, having won an important heat against a person who is fighting to stay in the top 5. Every time I enter an event like this I realize that I have the level to be there fighting against the best in the world and the desire to be there all the time is getting stronger.

How did you complete the super maneuver against Griffin? What did you feel when you realized that was going to be the score?
It was a maneuver that came out quite unexpectedly, I went for an aerial and the board went away, I had to pull it and reverse the aerial and in the end it made the score. The truth is that at the moment I finished the maneuver, I imagined that it was going to be, but you never know, you are against the third in the world, one of the favorites and you never know if they are going to give you the score or not.

What was the plan with Gabriel throughout the entire event?
It was about focusing on ourselves, on our surfing and not worrying about our rival. Trying to give space to our strengths and obviously not getting away or giving Filipe space to maneuver. Unfortunately in the end it didn't work out, but at least we were able to focus on our own and not worry so much about what our rival was doing.

"The Brazilians were happy that I eliminated Griffin, who had been the executioner of the Brazilians in the other championships"

What did all the pros tell you in the arena?
The pros congratulated me but they were really focused on their own thing, the Brazilians were happy that I eliminated Griffin, who had been the executioner of the Brazilians in the other championships. But in reality everyone is doing their own thing and everyone obviously congratulated me for the good performance but nothing special.

Did Griffin talk to you at any point after the series?
Yes, we talked just as we were leaving the heat, he saw my aerial from behind and he fell on his, he greeted me from afar and applauded me. From there, in the championship area, we talked, and everything was fine, he is a great person, a great guy and we get along really well too, so as friends and teammates we talked about the heat a little and nothing more than that.

In the series with Filipe, what happened that so few waves were surfed?
It was slow, it went from having quite a few waves to having some very big sets that put me out of my way a bit, which is what made me unable to catch a second good wave.

It took me out of the peak where I wanted to be, there was a lot of current and in the last 20 minutes of the heat practically no high potential waves came in and that was basically what happened: the sea became quite flat compared to what it was in the first minutes.

The judges were more judgmental about fundamentals and power surfing, don't you think?
I think there was good judging throughout the event; as always there are some who think that one heat should have been won by one and others who think that the other should have won it. I think that overall there was good judging throughout the event, applying the progressive and also the power surfing aspects.

How is your year going?
My year: The next event would be the Pan American in Panama, from there the QS in El Gringo, from there the ISA World Championship and we would close with Saquarema and if it is possible and done, which would be nice, to have the QS in Punta Rocas, we would close with that.