Griffin Colapinto wins the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal

redbull.com:

has moved to the top of the World Surf League Championship Tour rankings and will be wearing the yellow jersey at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in Australia after winning the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal in Peniche, Portugal, last week. This is the second time Griffin has tasted success in Portugal, having secured his first victory at the same event two years ago.

This season he's been joined on the Championship Tour by his younger brother, Crosby, and the pair fed off each other's energy to make it to the finals on the opposite sides of the draw, with Crosby recording a career-best semi-final finish in just his third event on the Championship Tour."This is probably one of the most special events of my life with Crosby making the semis," said Griffin on the podium immediately after the final. "We’ve had a long road together, it’s been a rollercoaster where either I’m up and he’s down, or I'm down and he's up, so for us to finally start peaking at the same time feels so good."Falling in love with the things that make you feel good is the secret, I think," said Griffin, when asked what was behind his recent run of success.

"It’s cool to see it all come together, it’s really exciting. It feels insane to take the yellow jersey to Bells, I’m psyched!"It felt long overdue when Griffin won his first Championship Tour event at the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal back in 2022.

He burst out of the gates at his first rookie event in 2018, finishing third at the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, highlighted by a triple-tube perfect 10 in the quarter-finals, surfing the legendary point break of Kirra for the first time. While Griffin's future seemed assured, his first three years on the tour showed plenty of potential without ever completely setting