Two-time world champion Filipe Toledo will not compete in the World Surf League for the rest of 2024 but still plans to take part in the Olympics, according to media in his native Brazil.
“In the past, I have been honest about some of my challenges not only with injuries, but also with mental health,” was posted on Toledo’s social media. “Competing at the highest level for the past decade has taken a toll on me, and I need a break to recover for the next chapter of my career.”
Toledo, 28, made the announcement after an early elimination from the WSL season opener in Hawaii. He posted that he has been given a wild card to return to the tour in 2025.
Toledo’s post did not mention the Olympics, but he said in a video posted later that he is focusing on the Games, according to Brazilian media.
In 2022, Toledo became the third different Brazilian man to win the world title in as many years. In 2023, he became the first man to repeat as world champion since American John John Florence in 2017.
Toledo missed Brazil’s team for surfing’s Olympic debut in Tokyo. He was ranked fourth in the world in 2019, the season that determined the spots, but third among Brazilians, and a nation could qualify a maximum of two surfers per gender for those Games.
Countryman Italo Ferreira went on to win Olympic gold.
Last month, Tokyo gold medalist Carissa Moore announced she will have an abbreviated WSL schedule this year and will leave competitive surfing after the Games this summer and wants to start a family. Moore left the door open to a return to competition in the coming years.
Also in January, eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia announced she was taking the 2024 season off, including withdrawing from Olympic consideration.