Gabriel Medina, number one at La Graviere, France

Gabriel Medina just won the Quiksilver Pro, France. He’s 17 years old (in case you haven’t heard) and the Quik Pro was his second event as a World Tour competitor (the first being the Hurley Pro, Trestles after the mid-year rotation.) On paper, his achievements in the juniors and primes are eye-popping. A few things you should know about Gabs on finals day: 1. He beat Kelly Slater in the Quarters, kinda easily. 2. He beat Taylor Knox in the semis with a combined heat total of 19.57. The 10 he scored was for the most inverted air-reverse we can remember in contest history. 3. In the final, he beat Julian Wilson with a 7.83 and a 9.17. Jules flared, throwing a backside above-the-lip board-varial and a frontside air-revs for his two scoring rides, but Gabriel went a little bigger and a little harder. The 9.1 began with a first-hit finner-reverse, ended with a straight air and boasted a coupla turns in-between. 4. All three of his heats on finals day are well-worth a re-watch. 5. Watch out for this kid. Expect a world title. For more of Ryan Miller’s awesome work, jump over to his site, here.