Caitlin Simmers and Griffin Colapinto Win US Open of Surfing Huntington Beach pres. by Shiseido
Caitlin Simmers (USA) and Griffin Colapinto (USA) have claimed the 2021 US Open of Surfing Huntington Beach presented by Shiseido, the opening stop on the 2021 World Surf League (WSL) Challenger Series (CS), victories. Simmers’ dynamic win against Gabriela Bryan (HAW) and Colapinto’s massive triumph over Encinitas, California’s, Jake Marshall, marked the biggest WSL wins in their young careers.
It was a phenomenal Final between Colapinto and Marshall with San Clemente, California’s Colapinto taking the lead heading into the final ten minutes courtesy of a critical exchange between the two which went Colapinto’s way (Colapinto was awarded a 7.57 to Marshall’s 7.33). That decisive moment, coupled with Colapinto’s progressive forehand attack within the dying minutes, proved to be the difference as Colapinto went on to his first-ever US Open victory.
“It’s been a long time, I won my last event in a Pro Junior when I was 16 years old and it’s been like a burden on me,” said Colapinto. “I had this weird intuition from the beginning of this contest that it was all going to come together and everything was feeling good. There’s so many people to thank; my parents are massive, my brother, my friends, my grandparents. I’ve just had such great support my whole life. They helped make me who I am today.”
On the ladies side, Simmers’ decimating backhand put Bryan against the ropes with a 7.17 (out of a possible 10) at the 14-minute mark, leaving the surfer from Kauai, Hawaii, in need of a 7.83 heading in the dying minutes. With the ocean not providing limited high-scoring possibilities, Bryan was left waiting for a wave as time expired. Pure elation from Simmers followed the final horn as the 15-year-old immortalized herself with her first major WSL victory. She has now gone back-to-back in Huntington Beach after winning the US Open Pro Junior trophy in 2019.
“I don’t really have much to say other than I’m really happy and stoked everything went my way,” expressed Simmers. “I noticed it was really high tide so I couldn’t do what I did in my last heat where I waited 20-minutes for a wave so I just tried to get a quick start. I’m not really trying to qualify and just want to have fun in France and Portugal, and just surf, and enjoy myself.”
Challenger Series surfers are competing for a chance to advance to the elite Championship Tour in 2022. The top three results will be counted at season’s end. For the men, that means finishing in the Top 12. For the women, a Top 6 finish in this year’s condensed four-event season earns a spot to the CT.
Global partners for the US Open of Surfing Huntington Beach pres. by Shiseido include Michelob Ultra, Jeep, Hydro Flask, Expedia, Red Bull, Oakley Sunglasses, and BFGoodrich join with event partners Frontier, Flying Ember, US Army, Apple Test, Fu Wax, Super73, Regional, DraftKings, and Waterloo along with local sponsor Visit Huntington Beach representing for Surf City USA.