Stab Magazine | Gabriel Medina Swoops Owen Wright At Chopes

Live Now: Chapter 11 Mini-Documentary With Dane Reynolds

337 Views

Gabriel Medina Swoops Owen Wright At Chopes

“It’s looks like we lost Lowers off the tour, and brought it back at Teahupoo”—Pete Mel

news // Aug 20, 2018
Words by Ashton Goggans
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Finals Day at the Tahiti Pro felt as lethargic as Los Angeles this AM, sleepy, small conditions at Teahupoo offering little thrills, and the blaring, nasal vocals of new-sish(?) Blink-182 track advertising the Surf Ranch Pro next month jarring us from our late morning coffees. 

With the exception of a few rare drainers early on in the day, two-foot Teahupoo looked more like a particularly clear day in Southern California than anything resembling a South Pacific reef pass, onlookers standing casually on the inside reef with little risk of danger from the small swell. 

“It’s looks like we lost Lowers off the tour, and brought it back at Teahupoo,” Pete Mel said, as Filipe Toledo dusted Michael Febraury. “Look at that, conditions are just absolutely perfect…” 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RAVsb8qL1Is

For a minute, it looked like South African Michael February—surfing Teahupoo for his first time—was going to give Filipe Toledo a run for the semis. Despite threading a narrow, technical tube, it didn’t translate to a score in the excellent range, and Feb couldn’t find anything to back it up, while Toledo went four to the shore, stabbing turns all the way to dry dock. 

Gabe and Italo’s quarters match up was conspicuously lopsided, Italo looking off kilter and out of sorts, while Gabriel ripped through his scoring waves in the first eight minutes.  

https://www.youtube.com/embed/EtBbq-AR-aY

Wade Carmichael blew a clean exit on his opening pit, but recovered with two heavy-handed finners. But he was never going to beat Owen Wright. Wright’s got that certain stoicism at places like Tahiti, never caving in and scrapping during slow stretches and always standing his ground patiently waiting for sets with priority. 

With rare exceptions through the semifinals, the heats went to those who could resist the temptation to scrap despite the dying swell’s maddeningly slow pace. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/82DwIOEYJcs

Filipe Toledo’s fist-pump claim after a two-turn combo and foam climb on an insider was a high point, as Owen put him down with a pair of chandeliered pits with closing arcs.  Gabe Medina got even with Jeremy Flores in the semis. By finals, with Wright and Gabriel Medina bobbing within a stone’s throw of the channel, the swell had dropped, and the wind threatened to blow what was left of the underwhelming conditions to bits. 

Owen bamboozled Medina on the first wave of the heat, drifting him off-mark and bolting for the West Bowl just in front, the nugget sneaking under Medina and Owen capitalizing with an opening pit and three hooks to shut it down. With nothing hollow showing up, Medina’s flared out frontside nosepick reverse return was about as radical as anything possible on the flat faced Chopes chunker. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fM8-ftsxB3c?enablejsapi=1

After squeezing the juice from every last lemon that rolled through the wind-kissed lineup for the better part of fifteen minutes, Gabriel Medina must have been melting when he paddled over the back of Wright’s last scoring set wave, with three minutes left, and saw a messy, raw runner behind it. Clawing into the face straight off the take-off, and needing only a high-5 to take the win, Medina came blasting out of the messy Chopes tube leaving little doubt to who would be taking home the win, and putting the squeeze Filipe Toledo’s lead into Lemoore.

“Teahupoo has always been nice to me,” Medina said from the channel. “It gave me the last time. It feels so good to win here again. Now I can start thinking about the Title.”

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Full Frame: Scandinavia Is Surfing’s Next Frontier

A 30-hour drive, bathymetric maps, and 10 years of searching yield surfing's newest discovery.

Mar 29, 2024

Watch: João Chianca Had A Remarkable Hawaii Season Before His Injury

Plus an update on his condition.

Mar 28, 2024

Pittar’d And Feathered

Do the WSL judges deserve the internet's wrath? We asked the man of the hour.

Mar 28, 2024

Robbo, Pickles, And Tyler Wright Become The Underdogs Breakfast At Uninspiring Winkipop

The foreboding blade sharpens and inconsistent judging prevails on Day Two in Torquay.

Mar 27, 2024

“I Don’t Always Win Heats, But When I Do, I Try To Beat John John”

Slater shines and the axe begins its descent on Day 01 at Bells.

Mar 26, 2024

Back Against The Wall: The Ramzi Boukhiam Redemption

Morocco's first CT surfer on speaking six languages, having no coach, and snatching Fil Toledo's…

Mar 25, 2024

Will Kirra, Babies or JJF Stop a GOAT Winning at Bells?

Bluesky BOAG advice from a Superman specialist and former Trials winner.

Mar 25, 2024

Bells Preview: The WSL’s Victorian Sword Dancing Equinox Ritual

Will a Brazilian crack the Top 10 at Bells?

Mar 25, 2024

69 Shin Bones Later + the Anticlimactic State of Big Wave Record-Breaking

Lucas Chumbo might have surfed the biggest wave ever this year. But how will we…

Mar 23, 2024

Watch: ‘Fresh and Fried’ Ft the Quik Kids

How taxing is it to tackle the Gold Coast’s Triple Crown in a single day,…

Mar 23, 2024

The Popular Vote: The People’s Stab In The Dark With Kolohe Andino Champion

Which board looked best — to you —under Kolohe's talons?

Mar 22, 2024

Six Key Learnings From Portugal

Three CT events in, what do we know? 

Mar 21, 2024

‘Zipper’ Is Going On Tour, Here’s Where You Can Watch It  

Dates, times + locations for the Venice, Encinitas, Sydney + Byron premieres.  

Mar 20, 2024

Dane Reynolds On His Future, His Past, And Chapter 11’s Raison D’être

Our 9-minute plunge into the collective psyche of Ventura's pillar(s).

Mar 20, 2024

From ‘Blue Ribbon Cross Country Runner’ to Vogue – How Steph Again Is Back With A Rip Curl Remix

Everything we know about the she-GOATs sponsorship boomerang.

Mar 18, 2024

Stab Interview: Darren Handley Explains Why You Can’t Buy The Winning Stab In The Dark Model

And his decades-long standoff with Slater.

Mar 17, 2024

Griff Embraces Portugal’s Eternal Time Loop To Vanquish Medina + Ewing, Defay Delays The Inevitable

A redeeming closing act at Supertubos.

Mar 16, 2024

The Secret Behind Lungi Slabb’s Inconceivable Greenmount Funnel

Six broken boards, one leaking forehead, and five days of Superbank mysticism.

Mar 16, 2024
Advertisement