Unlike Jordy Smith, Kolohe Andino, Gabriel Medina and Filipe Toledo, Italo Ferreira arrived in Hawaii more than a month ago. Just when some of the best swells of the season arrived, creating one of the best Novembers at Pipe in recent years.

She didn't even get a monthly finalist nomination for the winter wave, but she got a taste for the queen of waves in the heaviest seas.

With that, what came next seemed like a walk in the park.

It was a smart move, Pipe is not just any wave and if you want to win the title you have to learn how to surf it. Italo had not had any impressive results on the wave and he did more than right to arrive earlier.

It's amazing to see surfers like Filipe Toledo who want to be in the conversation for a title but end up surfing the Pipe Masters two days before the championship starts. Especially when he knows that it's one of his Achilles heels.

So he comes in early and loses.

It will be strange not to see Toledo at the Volcom Pipe Pro, It will be like another declaration that he does not want to be world champion..

Related: Filipe Toledo does not want to be world champion (for now)

When the chips were down, Medina was there and so was Italo. But the magic of sacrifice shone brighter: Even without getting out of a couple of waves that were worth 10 points, Ferreira took the win.

In 95 Mick Campbell and Danny Wills underestimated Pipe, saying it was just another wave, and Slater ate them up in two loaves. In 2019, Italo found out what happened to Slater and took what he went looking for.

Just like Adriano did with Jamie O'Brien in 2015, Italo worked with Shane Dorian. It is not easy to master Pipe and the Brazilian did it, with sacrifice, with cuts, with pain and with tears, the reward came.

He is a deserved champion.