Rio Waida Wins Nias Pro QS 5000 // Highlights + Full Heat Replay

Entering the event as the sole Championship Tour (CT) surfer and the highest seed, Rio Waida (INA) was always going to be the man to beat. The 23-year-old Tokyo 2020 Olympian waited until Finals Day to peak however, slowly building his heat totals throughout the event, before delivering a near-perfect 19.00 (out of a possible 20) in his Semifinal match against Oscar Berry (AUS). Throughout the event Waida was clear that his intentions weren't to win, but to perform to the best of his abilities. And perform he did, to the loud cheers of a giant local crowd that showed up to show him their support. Opening the Final with a 7.00 and almost immediately backing it up with an 8.77, Waida showcased his lightning fast rail-work, matching the judges criteria to a tee, with speed, power and flow on full display. After a litany of excellent scores throughout the rest of the event, Wylie was unable to come anywhere near cracking the Indonesian's two-wave combination, especially after Waida notched a 9.60 midway through. "I don't know how to explain but I'm really happy that I came here to Nias and today, the Finals Day, Nias showed us the proper wave, the wave that everyone's dreaming of," Waida said. "In the Final I was kind of a little bit more nervous maybe, I saw more crowd and stuff and I thought I had to perform my best and then I think I did, I got a pretty good score. I haven't watched the replay, you know, I have to learn and get better, but I'm happy with how I performed." "I'm really grateful that there's so many people here," Waida continued. "I'm just really grateful that I have so many supporters and of course representing my country, Indonesia, there's so many locals that said, ‘Rio please, do it for us!' They [were saying] it's been Australians winning this event, so they want Indonesians to win this event and I think I did, so I hope I made everyone happy. I'm really proud of my surfing and I'm really grateful." Shop official 2023 Rip Curl WSL Finals merchandise here: https://ift.tt/yBRje72 Limited-edition 2023 Official Championship Tour tees available now: https://ift.tt/hCs52v1... Shop 2023 official CT jerseys and new posters at WSLStore.com: https://ift.tt/hCs52v1... #WSL Subscribe to the WSL for more action: https://goo.gl/VllRuj Watch all the latest surfing action of the world's best surfers in the world's best waves. Heats on demand, event highlights and exclusive interviews, right here on the WSL's Youtube channel. For More Visit: https://ift.tt/xe5Eplg Like the WSL on Facebook: https://ift.tt/Iweyo8i Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wsl Follow us on Instagram: https://ift.tt/bwjU0sS World Surf League https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyEoxKUIeVA