Gabriel Medina wins the 2015 Quiksilver Pro, France

Words by Elliot Struck

Today in Hossegor, Gabriel Medina won the 2015 Quiksilver Pro, France. To be fair, when you woke up this morning you probably didn’t assume it’d be Bede Durbidge who Gabs would beat in the final. But also to be fair, this event has seen Bede’s best surfing in years. Though, not enough to beat an in-form Gabs, who was quite unstoppable. Here’s what happened in the lead up…

Julian Wilson’s bottom turn is the best on tour, and was the main factor in his beating Italo Ferreira in the morning mist. Julian’s surfing was energised and based on big ideas. I adore Italo, but Jules made him look childish in the Quarters.

Mick Fanning lost to Bede Durbidge in their quarterfinal, unable to find the opportunities that he wanted, or needed. “(the mist and sun) was beautiful, but it tricked me!” laughed Mick afterwards. He’s the calmest man on tour at the moment, and even after the loss, you couldn’t have wiped the smile off his face with a SUP paddle.

One second after Mick’s interview, we cut to Adriano de Souza steaming through a barrel, exiting into a sandy, foamy floater, and the best kind of claim: truly personal, and not one bit for show. It was one of the waves that helped him beat Owen Wright.

John John Florence looked very cold, but very ready. Gabriel Medina was stone, staring like Kelly. Gabs wanted it badly. He surfed more safely than he did in round four, going for quantity over quality with clean but uncommitted turn combos. John found a barrel and went to the air, coping a backwash explosion – if he’d ridden out things could’ve looked a lot different…

With 10 minutes remaining John gambled a paddle deep to the north, putting a whole lot of distance between him and an in-priority Gabriel. Gabs stayed put, slowly bettering his backup score. As soon as he’d built his combination, he didn’t want to take the chance that John would get crazy, and started looking for air sections. John needed a 9.60 with five minutes remaining. The Quiksilver inflatable bobbed over some sets. Nothing was coming. Gabs found a freak left and got a decent barrel, combo’ing John in the process. With seconds remaining, John found a barrel from the north, rode out and had the choice to either kick out and scratch another wave, or pump through and spin an air reverse to the flats. He chose the latter (an 8.77), and we’ll see him in Peniche.

Julian stopped a semis restart by getting a deep, pigdog barrel against Bede just before the 20 minute mark, clocking a 7.17. Bede couldn’t make it out of his left and then Jules flexed priority to get barrelled for a 3.67. Bede took two waves and put turns together, then scooped through a decent barrel. He nudged out in front and Julian never recovered. Mr Wilson lost needing a four point ride with nothing but closeouts in front of him.

Then, an all-Brazilian affair; Gabs and Ads. The waves went to shit. The most exciting moment of the heat, and perhaps the three heats prior was Gabriel’s backside washing machine barrel to three-turn combo for 10 points. “That was a bomb!” he said. Adriano tried to fight back in the final seconds with a dry sand air reverse but got nowhere near the eight points he needed. And that’s how the odd couple of Gabs and Bede found the final.

From the first wave, Gabriel was unrelenting. He opened with a left and then went about dissecting the running rights, clocking up eights and nines. Bede was combo’d early (a comeback wasn’t unachievable), but he never crawled out front. Mr Medina is well and truly back, and he did it with the best backside rotation ever seen in a jersey (round four), another huge backside air reverse on his last wave of the final, and some of the best backhand combos we’ve seen from him in some time. Plus, two 10-point rides throughout the event. And, an emotional dedication to the grandfather he recently lost. Yeah, he’s back. Bravo.

Mr Durbidge. Photo: WSL/ Poullenot/Aquashot

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE FINAL RESULTS:
1- Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.50
2- Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.44

ROXY PRO FRANCE FINAL RESULTS:
1- Tyler Wright (AUS) 17.10
2- Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 10.93

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.73 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.84
SF 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.67 def. Adriano De Souza (BRA) 12.50

ROXY PRO FRANCE SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) 6.87 def. Sage Erickson (USA) 4.43
SF 2: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 11.27 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 3.83

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.00 def. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 9.00
QF 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.10 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.57
QF 3: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 15.37 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 13.83
QF 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.43 def. John John Florence (HAW) 13.10

WSL Men’s Top 10 (after Quiksilver Pro France):
1. Mick Fanning (AUS) 49,900 pts
2. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 49,450 pts
3. Owen Wright (AUS) 43,600 pts
4. Julian Wilson (AUS) 41,450 pts
5. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 40,650 pts
6. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 40,200 pts
7. Kelly Slater (USA) 34,150 pts
8. Italo Ferreira (BRA) 34,100 pts
9. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 33,000 pts
10. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 31,200 pts

WSL Women’s Top 5 (after Roxy Pro France):
1. Carissa Moore (HAW) 59,500 pts
2. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 58,600 pts
3. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 51,200 pts
4. Lakey Peterson (USA) 47,000 pts
5. Tyler Wright (AUS) 45,200 pts