Two Cloud 9 Surfers, One Asian Games Bronze
Surfing's first Asian Games ended with Jayuard Alciso beating Toby Espejon in an all-Filipino bronze-medal match in Japan: the Philippines' first surfing medal at the Games.
When surfing was added to the Asian Games programme, the question here was whether a Filipino could make a final. The answer turned out to be better and stranger than anyone expected: two of them made the semifinals, and the bronze medal was decided between them.
What happened in Japan
The surfing competition at the 20th Asian Games ran at Long Beach in Tahara, on the Pacific coast of Aichi Prefecture. Both Filipino men came through the early rounds and into the final four, where they met the two strongest surfers in the draw.
Alciso, 21, lost a close semifinal to Indonesia's Made Pajar Ariyana, 13.60 to 12.37. Espejon ran into Japan's Kanoa Igarashi, the Olympic silver medallist and a full-time Championship Tour surfer, and went down 18.33 to 5.83. That set up an all-Filipino bronze-medal match on Tuesday 29 September.
Alciso opened with a 6.67, backed it up with a 4.97 and won 11.64 to 8.90. Espejon's best two waves were a 4.83 and a 4.07. It was the Philippines' 16th medal of the Games and its 11th bronze.
Igarashi went on to beat Pajar Ariyana for the men's gold. In the women's event, Japan's Mirai Ikeda, 18, took gold.
Why it matters on this island
When both men surfed heats at the Siargao International Surfing Cup in 2024, the World Surf League described them as part of the local Cloud 9 crew. That is the reef the world tour is about to arrive at, in front of the same boardwalk.
For a long time the story of Filipino surfing was told mostly by visitors: the wave was world class, and the people who surfed it best were often passing through. Results like this one, a month before the Championship Tour comes to Cloud 9 for the first time and with John Mark Tokong already confirmed as a wildcard, are part of how that changes.
There is also a neat thread to the next few weeks. The surfer who knocked Espejon out in Japan, Igarashi, is ranked seventh on the Championship Tour and will be in the field at Cloud 9 in November. The local CT Trials, still to be scheduled, will give two more Filipinos the chance to join him.
If you are here to learn
The kids in the water at Cloud 9 at dawn are not there for the photos. This is what a serious surf culture looks like when it has a good reef on its doorstep, and the standard in the lineup is a good reason to start somewhere gentler. Our surf school runs beginner sessions on the softer breaks and reefs that suit your level, and will tell you honestly when you are ready for the main peak.
Congratulations to Jayuard and Toby. See you in the water.
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