Julian Wilson wins the 2014 Billabong Pipe Masters

Julian Wilson just won the 2014 Billabong Pipe Masters. As you already knew, Gabriel Medina became the 2014 ASP World Champion earlier in the day, and rode a cloud of adrenaline into the final. But Julian straight dominated the final day, and this is one of the rare times when the form surfer of the event actually wins the whole party. Jules clocked 9.93 on his first ride of the final, and Gabs locked away a Backdoor 10 and a Pipe 8 early on, leaving Jules to play catch up. But a set came with one and a half minutes remaining – Jules took Backdoor and stormed through the biggest wave of the heat, a straight up nugget. He turned around to see Gabs on a Pipe smoker. And both gents came to the beach to wait for the scores to drop. The scores dropped – Julian posted a 9.70, and Gabs clocked a 9.20 – not enough. Jules finds his first win of the season at the last event of the season, and it never could’ve been sweeter after the year he’s had. Oh, and… he also won the Vans Triple Crown.

“Oh my god it’s pretty much… I feel like I’m having, maybe not as good a day as Medina, but it’s second best to a world title,” said Gabs. “I just wanted to finish the year on a good note. “It’s been such a grind, I’ve learnt a lot about myself. Congrats to Medina, and congrats to Dusty (Payne, Triple Crown runner up) for requalifying. I’m honestly speechless, I don’t even know how to feel yet.”

“I’m proud of myself, it was good to surf against Julian in the final,” said Gabriel. “I love to surf Pipe, and Backdoor as well. It’s too much thinking in one (laughs). Thanks to everyone who was rooting for us and for supporting this sport. I feel honoured to be here today and have a chance to surf this wave and surf against these guys.”

Photo: ASP/Kirstin

Gabs might be the most popular man in Brazil right now but the second most popular is probably Alejo Muniz. First he takes out Kelly, and then Mick, and just like that Gabs is world champ. No one would have bet that Alejo would have been the guy to do that but with the adrenaline and energy of the fans on the beach he was somehow able to overcome the nerves and make the quarters.

Seabass needed a ninth to requalify and got it. He took out Joel Parkinson in the process, too. What would the tour have been without the charismatic Kauaian surfer? Just a tad more dull and vanilla. He’s back now though and we can expect a big year from him next year.

And how about Gabs missing 17 minutes of a heat and still getting through it. As soon as the seconds ticked down and he was the official 2014 world champ Gabs paddled in and celebrated with his people. While this was going on he left his countryman Filipe Toledo alone in their heat. The celebrations went on for 17 minutes. Gabs got chaired up the beach, did a few interviews, then paddled back out and made the heat advancing to the semi finals. If you’re gonna win and celebrate it doesn’t get more rockstar than doing that.