Crosby Colapinto Scores Rip Curl Newcastle Cup Wildcard
After A Breakout Winter In Hawaii, Crosby Colapinto Scores A CT Wildcard.
It's a case of being in the right place at the right time for Crosby Colapinto, with the nineteen-year-old Californian scoring a wildcard into the Rip Curl Newcastle Cup presented by Corona after traveling to Australia to support his brother.
"I was just planning on coming and being a support crew for my brother and being around the contest because I know the WSL is trying to start contest back up and get the QS up and running so I just thought it would be a good idea to be around, watching it and getting used to contest vibes again" Colapinto told the WSL.
Colapinto is coming off a statement-making season on the North Shore of Oahu. This winter he and Griffin threw down the gauntlet, catching some of the best waves at Pipeline and Backdoor.
This comes after 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater did not board a recent charter flight from Los Angles to Sydney due to injury, and therefore will be unable to compete in the event. Officially, first replacement Mikey Wright takes Kelly's spot, and Rip Curl has selected Colapinto as the final wildcard.
This will be his third-ever Championship Tour event, having previously competed in The Rip Curl Pro, Portugal and the Surf Ranch.
Crosby was already in Australia when he got the news, having made the trip with Griff who is currently no.17 on the Championship Tour rankings. He's right now sitting out his two-week spell in hotel quarantine in Sydney - a chore all the more bearable knowing he's got a chance to compete against the world's best at a time when his surfing is in top form.
"I'm really excited because when I did the CTs for the Surf Ranch and Portugal I felt kinda young and immature with my surfing" he said.
But now, after a special season in Hawaii and a two-month stint in Indonesia, Colapinto's surfing has found a new level of maturity.
"The Hawaii season was a little confidence booster, and I was in indo for a while before that ... I feel like going away from home for that long has really polished my surfing" he said.