Italo Ferreira’s body disappeared as he tucked down behind the barrel, emerging unscathed from the curling water before he pumped his board down the face of the fast-moving wave, propelling his surfboard into the air, twisting and then landing on it with ease.

His body and surfboard were on repeat through the morning: barrel, air, barrel, air, barrel, and another perfectly-executed air.

Ferreira was surfing in central California on a recent day, not in the ocean, but at the Surf Ranch in Lemoore during a training session put on by sponsor Red Bull to get his feet wet practicing on the machine-made wave, where he and the rest of the world’s best surfers will be competing in May as part of the World Surf League’s Championship Tour.

Brazilian surfer Italo Ferreira was in California at the Surf Ranch on a recent day for a training session put on by sponsor Red Bull. Ferreira will be inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame on Aug. 4 2022 in Huntington Beach. (Photo courtesy of Pat Nolan/Red Bull Content Pool)

The Brazilian surfer, who this year will be inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach, had just finished up a contest in Portugal and made the California pitstop en route to Australia, the stop for the next series of big contests.

“This year started not so well,” he admitted while taking a break from training.

Ferreira isn’t used to mediocre results, but in the first event this year, at the Billabong Pro Pipeline, he got 17th place. The next two events he placed 9th and at the last event, the Rip Curl Bells Beach, another 17th.

While it’s enough to likely pass a looming mid-year cut for the top best, the middle of the pack is not where he wants to be.

Ferreira knows what it’s like at the top and is intent on getting back on the winner’s podium. He’s currently the only surfer to have an Olympic gold medal, World Surf League World Championship title and an International Surfing Association World Games gold medal.

The trio of successes and his inspirational, explosive surfing helped land Ferreira his spot in this year’s Surfers’ Hall of Fame, marking the first time a Brazilian surfer will put hands and feet in cement in Surf City.

Last year, Ferreira came just short of securing his second WSL world title at Lower Trestles, losing in the final heat against fellow countryman Filipe Toledo.

“I’m trying to keep the balance and keep the good energy,” Ferreira said during a break between training, noting a recent trip back home with family and friends was a needed break.

Ferreira was born in the small town of Baía Formosa on the northeastern coast of Brazil, the son of a fisherman who first rode waves with the top of an ice cooler at age 8.

“It was crazy,” he said. “My family, friends, the place I came from. It’s really special. It makes me motivated.”

He borrowed surfboards from his cousins and then caught the eye of Brazilian surf coach Luiz “Pinga” Campos, who was then marketing director of one of the world’s leading surf brands.

Ferreira quickly made a name for himself, winning junior championships and regional events before qualifying for the World Tour in 2014; he was named Rookie of the Year his first year with a seventh-placed finish in the rankings.

But it was in 2019 when Ferreira really found his stride, ending the year in one of the sport’s most memorable finals against countryman and three-time world champion Gabriel Medina.

Ferreira took the momentum to the Olympics in 2021, earning the first-ever men’s gold medal in surfing during the Tokyo Games. He has a memento permanently inked on the right side of his neck, a tattoo of the five Olympic rings.

“It was very special. I couldn’t imagine being a part of this and making history in surfing, to win the first gold medal. When I was a kid, I wasn’t dreaming of that. It was to be a world champion,” said Ferreira, 27. “That was the only goal of my life.”

Ferreira said he also wants to help others achieve their dreams; he opened the Italo Ferreira Institute in his hometown, which helps an estimated 100 children in school, surfing and other sports.

“I can give back to the community, all the love,” he said.

Brazilian Italo Ferreira, a surfing world champion who also won the first-ever men’s medal in the Olympics, will be inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame on Aug. 4 in front of Huntington Surf and Sport. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

This year, it’s again his dream to be crowned world champion at Lower Trestles, just south of San Clemente, where the finals will be held once again in September.

And if he does end up at the top of the WSL rankings again, he will earn a spot to compete in the next Olympics, this time held at the big, barreling Teahupoʻo in Tahiti, where the surf competition will be taking place next year. The top two World Surf League surfers from countries the U.S. Australia and Brazil earn their spots through this year’s rankings.

“I spent a lot of time in the water to believe in my dreams and be a part of this,” said Ferreira, who has long had his surfboards made by San Clemente shaper Timmy Patterson,

But first, he’ll stop in Huntington Beach to join more than 90 other surfers who have put their hands and feet in cement the past 26 years at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway, just across from the Pacific Ocean.

“It’s nice to be a part of the history of surfing,” he said. “Everything I can do for the sport.”

The Surfers’ Hall of Fame will be held at 9 a.m. on Aug. 4 in front of Huntington Surf & Sport.

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