Over the course of the past year, Leo Fioravanti has turned from a kid you need to keep tabs on to a man you need to start paying attention to, potentially the first Italian world champion .

Leo no stranger to the surf world. And the surf world is certainly no stranger to him. The little charmer has had a spotlight shining on him since before he even hit his teens. And why not? He had eerily good form, a myriad of airs, a fearless approach to fearsome waves and a carve as big as his smile. The world was his, and the hype was inevitable.

But those days are over.

Leo ’s 18 now . An adult . He’s had a certain fire in him ever since returning to the water after sustaining a broken back at Pipeline . This year , he grabbed the lead on the WQS and has already beaten both Kelly Slater and defending World Champ Adriano de Souza as a wildcard on the WSL.

Suffice to say, Leo has arrived.

So now its’ time to put the noise to rest. No more hype. No more big claims. No more calling him a kid. From here on out, Leo’s just going to let his surfing do the talking.

Rest assured, we’ll be listening.

Fiji

“When he got hurt last year... in a way I think it was almost a blessing. It gave him a lot of time to sit back, think about where he is going, what he is doing and what he appreciates. And I think he came out more on fire after that” Kelly Slater

France

El salvador

“His attitude towards everything is really positive, so its good to have that energy and feed off of and push each other to new levels.”
Zeke Lau

Kanoa Igarashi

“This year has really been the best year of my life. I’ve gone from surfing incredible waves with my idol, to spending time with my family and scoring pumping waves with great friends. All these things combined have helped me to hopefully achieve my lifelong goal of qualifying for the world tour and one day, who knows, become a world champion.” Leo Fioravanti