12-Year-Old Wins Teahupo’o Trials, Set To Become Youngest CT Competitor Ever
+ Medina’s wildcard request gets denied, as Kauli and Vahine rise to disrupt the crown.
Unsettling, how fast the calendar has disintegrated. Feels like we were just at Pipeline, the year still soft around the edges, Prince Gabriel Medina tearing his breast muscle from the bone, accidentally handing Al Cleland his first shot at the big leagues. Blood in the bracket early — Crosby down, Steph out, John opting to sail the seas rather than compete in them.
And now, somehow, we’re a few weeks out from the final regular season event. Most of the story already written. But the real plot, as with any good novel, waits in the final chapters, tightening like a noose, mutating like a lab rat.
Teahupo’o’s calling.
Kelia Mehani Gallina Wins First Ever Women’s Trials
Miss Teahupo’o, as she’s known on Instagram, was born in 2012 — the second Olympiad of Usain Bolt’s reign, Obama’s encore, and the year Gangnam Style took over the world. Nostalgic musings aside, that doesn’t feel like so long ago, does it?
Now 12, Kelia just locked in her spot for the final CT event of 2025, officially making her the youngest competitor in history to ever to step into a CT heat.
“I’m so excited,” says Kelia, the day after the local trials win. “I got really lucky in the final. It turned onshore in the heats before, but for the final it just turned glassy, and there were some little barrels.”
The ocean, ever the romantic, delivered on cue.
“Mother Nature was really on her side,” adds her father, Ryan. “I’ve been pushing her into waves out here since she was four. Her and her little friend are probably the youngest ever to surf it. But he’s a couple of months younger, so technically he’s the youngest — they paddled out the same day.”
After the women’s Teahupo’o event was mothballed in the early 2000s, Ryan recalls a stretch where there weren’t many women in the lineup at all. No clear torch to chase.
“It was almost a forgotten thing,” says Ryan. “When Kelia was only a little girl, she was always the only girl out there.”
But women’s surfing is no longer a side plot, and Teahupo’o is back in the credits. Kelia’s only recently rubbed shoulders with her visiting idols, and now, in a few weeks, she’ll be elbowing them for space.
“I definitely want a heat against Caity,” she says. “But I’ve got Molly and Lakey in my first one. I really like Molly. She’s my friend and one of my biggest idols. As long as it’s glassy and barrelling, everything should be alright.”
“If the conditions line up, we’re confident she can do pretty well,” Ryan says.
Side note — Kelia turns 13 on August 10, just days after the comp waiting period kicks off on the 7th. Could be a rather electric waltz into the teenage years at the End of the Road.
Medina Asks For Wildcard, Gets A Palm To The Face
Would you say no to a pleading Gabriel Medina? Down on his knees, begging, please? Most mortals wouldn’t. But the WSL, in its new era of radiant bureaucracy, has proven immune to the dark prince’s charms.
So the word goes: Gabby — sidelined all season by a free-surf pectoral tear — requested a wildcard for the year’s final event. Hand outstretched, Expecting a courteous clasp or a velvet glove, he instead received a polite brush-off. Wildcards went only to gold medalist Kauli Vaast and local trials winner Mihimana Braye.
“There are no wildcards available for Tahiti. They’ve already been awarded; one is for Kauli and the other is for the event. What could happen with Gabriel is if there’s a replacement spot for an injured surfer. But for that to happen, someone has to get injured,” said the WSL.
Gabby isn’t the type to wait for a courtesy call. He’s no one’s backup plan. His team says last-minute wildcards are off the table.
Gabs has owned this event twice — 2014 and 2018 — and snagged Olympic bronze last year, all while becoming the unwitting muse for the most famous surf photo ever taken. It’s hard to picture this event being better without him in the mix. Should the WSL have bent the rules, or bowed the knee? Hard to say. You’re a cruel but fair monarch, Ryan Crosby.
Kauli Vaast + Vahine Fierro = Bad News For Top Seeds
Does the universe hate Jordy Smith?
Possibly. Twenty years of effort, two full decades of near-misses, and just as he strides chest out into what may be his last best shot — leading the rankings with two events to go, heading into J-Bay, his home court, his happy place — he runs straight into a manic Marco Mignot, blood in his eyes and air-revs on his mind. Two full spins on a single wave, and Jordy’s out early.
Sit back, big bru, and watch as Yago makes the final and pockets the points you were meant to take.
Still, second in the rankings ain’t bad. Plenty of room to move, especially with Teahupo’o coming. But no. The WSL, perhaps fearful of narrative incoherence, decides now’s the time to tweak the rules. The final 5, already a convoluted add-on from a past regime, now twisted again.
You’ve seen the update: world number one only needs to win one heat at Fiji to take the title. No more double-kill for certainty. The crown slowly pulled back from Jordy’s brow, like an ageing but capable uncle being quietly nudged from the throne he was never quite allowed to inherit.
And then, because irony must always overdeliver, the wildcard announcement drops: Jordy’s drawn Kauli Vaast in round one. Olympic gold medalist. Former CT finalist. Arguably the single worst thing to come face to face with at Teahupo’o, other than the reef itself.
Not much relief on the women’s side either. Gabriela Bryan’s reward is Vahine Fierro — last year’s Teahupo’o winner, freshly dumped from tour mid-season and now returning and nothing to lose and every reason to ruin someones day. Gulp.
At this point, you have to ask: is there a worse wildcard scenario on the tour than Tahiti? Difficult to think of a less desirable location to meet a hired killer with home-field advantage. Nothing like one last public execution to wrap a competitive year.
Good luck to all, and to all a good night.
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