A world champion surfer accidentally collided with an official water photographer mid-heat during a competition.
Brazilian professional surfer Filipe Toledo was knocked out of competition at the Surf Abu Dhabi Pro 2025 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this weekend.
The two-time world champion collided with the World Surf League (WSL) official water photographer Thiago Diz on his penultimate wave in his round of 16 heat against Kanoa Igarashi on Saturday.
Toledo bust his surfboard’s fins on the photographer’s camera lens as he crashed into him. According to Duke Surf, Toledo was reportedly heard saying: “Get this guy out of the water” after his collision with the photographer.
Durk Surf reports that Toledo received a 6,83 score for his wave from judges, then gestured around showing his broken board with two fins missing, angrily complained to the photographer who raised his hand in apology and went to surf the left, looking visibly upset.
After his mid-wave crash with the WSL photographer, the competition judges didn’t let Toledo take another attempt at the wave — in a heat he would go on to lose to Igarashi.
“Following an unfortunate collision at the end of Filipe Toledo’s last wave and after consulting with the judging panel regarding the final score on the right, the commissioners office has made the decision to stand by the result,” the WSL says in an Instagram post.
“Per the head judge’s ruling — Filipe’s final turn would have added between 0.2-0.5 max if completed and that would not have changed the final result of the heat. As a result, there will be no re-surf of the wave.”
According to Surfer, Toledo later made a statement on social media, in which he shared how grateful he was that he and the photographer came out of the incident uninjured.
“Super unfortunate what happened with the photographer,” Toledo says in an Instagram story.
“Thank God he’s okay, I’m okay. The impact that I felt on my board, if it was his hands or his head, or any part of his body, it would be really bad.
“So I’m really happy none of us are hurt. Shoutout to Kanoa [Igarashi] for surfing super solid that heat. [He] deserved the win.”
Image credits: Header photo via World Surf League (WSL).
