Men’s and Women’s Corona Open Mexico presented by Quicksilver Preview

Last Updated on August 10, 2021 9:50 am by

After 15 years and amid the “boom” of surfing in Mexico, the World Surf League (WSL) kicks off the most prestigious surfing event on the coast of Oaxaca, the Corona Open Mexico, a stage of the Championship Tour (CT). From August 10-20 at Barra de La Cruz and marks Mexico’s return to the world’s surfing elite.

This stage is the seventh stop on the Tour and the penultimate before the grand finale in Trestles, California, in September. After Mexico, the Tops of the Tour head to the bombs of Teahupoo, Tahiti. This is the first stage of the year in which there are no withdrawals, either due to injury or other reasons. It is also worth remembering that it will be the first TC championship after the unprecedented surfing competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in late July.

Then, the top 20 men and top nine women in the rankings automatically qualify for next year’s TC, and the remaining 12 male and six female surfers qualify for the Challenger Series, as well as two WSL season wildcards for each category.

Corona Open Mexico presented by Quiksilver betting line and relevant match information:

Where: Barra de la Cruz | Oaxaca

Date: 10/08/2021

Time: 6:32pm CDT

Moneyline Odds: Felipe Toledo 4.5 | Gabriel Medina 5.0 | Italo Ferreira 6.0 | Carissa Moore 3.3 | Stephanie Gilmore 5.5 | Tyler Wright 6.0

Draw Odds: N/A

Where to watch: YouTube

Favorites for the Corona Open de Mexico Presented by Quiksilver

Gabriel Medina: He was a surprise omission from the stand in Tokyo, but there’s no need to worry about him just yet. The worlds best have made the final in all but one CT event this year, winning at Narrabeen and Rottnest Island and finishing second at Surf Ranch, Newcastle, and Pipeline. Perhaps the only slight to the mighty goofy-footer heading to Mexico is that he’ll surf his setback in Mexico, that shouldn’t bother him too much, and he’s more than capable of brilliant surfing going well. Still, he’s had a little less success at Jeffrey’s Bay and Bells Beach, the other two right points on the course, than elsewhere. Still, he’ll consider this event the likely favorite and will undoubtedly be among the last few standing.

Italo Ferreira: Possibly the biggest threat to Medina’s world title, who will be riding high after his gold medal at Tsurigasaki Beach. Italo has not been as dominant as Medina this year in the CT, but he is nevertheless ranked second in the world and comes to Barra de la Cruz in form. He will also be surfing his backhand, but his surfing on right-handed point breaks has improved dramatically in recent years, and he has enjoyed good results at Bells and J-Bay in the last two years. Expect the pocket rocket to find tubes and hit those lips with aplomb in Mexico.

Carissa Moore: Marking her authority with increasing vigor in every contest this year and heading into this one, she is the comfortable favorite. Surprisingly, she only won one solo event at the TC this year but has yet to miss the final four and heads to Mexico with a gold medal from Tokyo hanging around her neck. She has a nearly 10,000 point lead in the world rankings, and barring catastrophe, will head to Trestles to surf for a world title and most likely as the number one seed. She is a powerful and skilled surfer in all conditions, and based on her season to date, she will almost certainly be there or thereabouts when the whips crack at Barra.

Johanne Defay: She could be your biggest threat. The Frenchwoman has long been a constant presence on the Championship Tour, but it wasn’t until recently that she stepped up her game and became a contender for the world title. Her season started in the same vein as many of her previous years; plenty of quarterfinal appearances, but not much else. However, at Rottnest Island, she made the final before taking the next event at Surf Ranch to jump to second place in the world rankings. Her ability to surf aggressively while minimizing mistakes makes her a dangerous proposition, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her take out this contest.

Final betting analysis of the Corona Open de Mexico Presented by Quiksilver

It is becoming an increasingly repetitive question in the run-up to every men’s event on the Championship Tour: can anyone not Brazilian win the event? The TC’s return to Barra da Cruz is no different, with Medina, Ferreira, and Toledo as the three runaway favorites to take it out. There are plenty of talented guys more than capable of taking them down, but with John John Florence now out for the year, the brilliant Brazilian trio deserves their place at the top of the pecking order and will be very hard to stop next week.

With so many surfers vying for a handful of top-five spots in the world rankings, the Corona Open Mexico is almost certainly the most important contest of the season to date. World number one Carissa Moore will enter as the deserved favorite, but the plethora of women trying to break into the bottom four at Trestles is hot on her heels. None of the seven aforementioned surfers would be a surprise winner next week, and with a couple more we haven’t mentioned not far behind, this is as wide open an event as you could hope for.