Cover photo: Toledo in Teahupoo de peso. Photo taken from his Instagram

Filipe Toledo's father, the former three-time Brazilian champion Ricardo, who was also his coach for much of his life, explained that what happens to the current world champion at Teahupoo is that he is afraid of hitting the coral bottom.

Speaking to the podcast and YouTube channel Por Dentro do Tour yesterday, Monday, he said: “The truth is that he is afraid of hitting the coral reef, that is the fear he has, of hitting himself there and really hurting himself and suffering an irreversible injury. It is something that remains in his head.”

“Big waves, he has already surfed in several big waves, in Waimea, in Pipeline. He doesn’t have the know-how that John John has, that Medina has, that Italo acquired over the years. It’s something that we know, but at no time does that diminish the quality of the athlete that he is,” he added.

He said that Filipe likes to go to Tahiti and that he was going to be part of the Brazilian camp that was held before and during the world tour stage but that he had the problem that was reported with his wife's passport that made him not participate in the US Open.

Toledo Sr. said that although Filipe likes to spend his free time at home when he escapes from tour commitments, he has already gone to Tahiti to train and referred to a bomb in the one that the Brazilian sent but ended up not completing“He showed his inexperience on that wave, and that experience is only gained by going there and there is a tour full of stages.”

Regarding Toledo's performance in the last edition of the Tahiti Pro, Ricardo Toledo said that Filipe told him: "My goal here is to pass a drum and I don't need to expose myself or prove anything to anyone."

“And he shouldn't do that, his focus is on the world circuit final and another world title. Now is not the time to prove that you can do it at Teahupoo. Look what happened with Ethan Ewing,” the world champion's father reflected.

“You have to know when to expose yourself and when he can expose himself. He will certainly do a preseason there to adapt even more. Something we have to think about is that the window is very short and the games can be played in a sea meter” and he stopped on this point, emphasizing that Filipe is going to prepare for Teahupoo solidly and joking that he will not claim later that he said that the sea will be small.

"He will be leaving, it's an eight-hour flight," he concluded, referring to the issue.

Toledo also referred to the Lowers finals, saying that he is setting up a large tent to place near the judges' platform "to put pressure" and calling for fans to be present on the day of the finals.

He said that for the first title he promised Filipe that if he won he would do an Iron Man, he ended up doing a half Iron Man, but for this year the promise is to do the full one: 42,2 kilometers running, 180 on a bicycle and 3,86 swimming.