Miguel Pupo

Brazilian surfer and long-serving Championship Tour competitor who reached world number one for the first time in his career in 2026, after 15 years on tour, by winning the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.

Born in Itanhaém, São Paulo, on 19 November 1991, Miguel Pupo joined the World Surf League's Qualifying Series in 2008 and reached the elite Championship Tour in 2011 or 2012, the same period that fellow Brazilian Gabriel Medina broke through. Unlike Medina and later countrymen Italo Ferreira and Caio Ibelli, Pupo spent much of the following decade fighting to retain his tour position rather than contending for titles. Pupo's best season came in 2022, when he reached a career-high ranking of world number six and won his first Championship Tour event, the Billabong Pro Teahupoo, defeating France's Kauli Vaast in the final. Injury cost him his tour place in 2023, though a wildcard kept him competing into 2024. In April 2026, at age 34 and the father of four children, Pupo produced one of the most improbable results of his career, winning the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in the first-ever all-Brazilian, all-goofyfoot final in the event's history, defeating compatriot and reigning world champion Yago Dora. The win, Pupo's second Championship Tour title, briefly moved him to world number one for the first time in his 15-year career. Described within the sport as a 'people's champion' for his perseverance through years of underappreciated results, Pupo remains one of Brazil's most respected veteran competitors on tour.

Powerful, versatile goofyfoot surfer

Regarded as a beloved 'people's champion' for his perseverance through a long, underappreciated career