About swells and tides..
15 September, 2014Canarias Surf Film Festival II
16 October, 2014One of ASP Worl Tour 2014’s top stars: Gabriel Medina. Especially after his great victory in the Billabong Pro Tahiti Surf Contest the whole (surf) world is talking about the man who beat world’s best surfer Kelly Slater in an absolutely fascinating battle in the final round. But that’s not the only reason why we should have a closer look at Medina. He surprised the spectators with his skills quite a few times already…
The 21 year old pro surfer was born in São Sebastião, São Paulo and grew up at Praia de Maresias. A beach that is known for its strong currents and big swells. Therefore, as a matter of course, Gabriel was only 9 years old when he first entered the water on a surfboard and started taming monster waves. Of course it didn’t take him very long until he had his first medal around the neck. At the age of 11 he won the Rip Curl Grom Search in the category of sub-12 that took place in Buzios, Rio de Janeiro. Four years later he became first of the ASP World Junior Tour as the youngest surfer to win this title so far. And by the way, at the moment he’s also the youngest Brazilian on the ASP Men’s World Champions Tour.
Apart from these big and important titles he was also successful in „amateur championships“, such as Volcom Sub-14 Contest, Quicksilver King of Groms, Rip Curl Grom Search etc. With only 14 years he surfed the World Championship in Ubatuba and defeated his idol Adriano De Souza.
Since 2009, thanks to his continuous success and strong skills, he’s getting sponsored by Rip Curl. A while ago he made it onto the top of the list of the world’s best surfers. He lost his spot after the Billabong Rio Pro 2014 but after the Fiji Pro and the Billabong Pro Tahiti score I’m quite sure he doesn’t have to worry anymore. I’m excited to see some more of your surf Mr. Medina!