Julian Wilson Wins Quik Pro France And Gabriel Medina Claims Ratings Lead

As you must already know, the World Surf League recently became the first surf league in the entire world to pay men and women equal prize money.

The nectar of change, baby.

They doubled down on equality by forcing Michael Rodrigues to surf the same conditions as the women today.

This morning, there were heats in which the waves were well overhead with offshore winds. It was kind of big. Kind of pumping. Definitely beautiful — but unlike streets, adventures and everything else in that torched Jeep commercial, beauty can be difficult to surf.

There was a ton of water moving. Many shifty peaks. A lot of confusion and a little bit of glory. Good for Courtney Conlogue but bad for Michael Rodrigues. Still, it was a class act to send him out there today instead of waiting until it got smaller.

No offense but I’d rather watch Garrett McNamara surf waist-high Lowers than watch him surf that heat again. In rippable waves? Chuck me a Mormaii hat and I’m Team M-Rod. But, folks, there is a time and a place for everything. Except for 6-point heat totals in good waves.

That was only the beginning of the day.

By the end of the day, Julian Wilson won the Quiksilver Pro, Courtney Conlogue won the Roxy Pro and Gabriel Medina claimed the ratings lead and the color yellow. Let’s talk about all that.

An honorable mention goes out to everyone who lost in the Quarterfinals. Adriano de Souza lost because he couldn’t find any waves that would let him ride for long enough. Jordy Smith lost because he didn’t surf like Ryan Callinan. Mikey Wright lost because Julian was doing airs like it was 2010 again. Sebastian Zietz lost because there were not enough tubes for him to hound.

And so the semis were set: Ryan Callinan vs Conner Coffin and Gabriel Medina vs Julian Wilson.

Callinan won without making it seem too difficult. Julian won in one of the most entertaining heats of the event — Gabriel must scare the fuck out of every other person on tour. He always seems like he’s got something up his sleeve and that’s not even a shaved armpit joke. He’s just on. In every heat. In any conditions. It wouldn’t be surprising if he won a BWWT event at Mav’s doing turns. Or the World Title any year in the next decade.

But he couldn’t beat Julian Wilson in the semis. Largely in part to Julain’s 10.

Then, the final. It went down in a surreal haze.

It started, then it stopped because of the surreal haze. It wasn’t quite a fog — more of a sea mist — but it doesn’t matter what you call it because you couldn’t see through it. After about ten minutes of the heat, the final had to go on hold because the judges couldn’t see shit. The crowd on the beach didn’t seem to care. It was Friday and warm and the sun was setting. Just pour another glass and don’t give a fuck. Who cares?

Ryan looked solid all heat. Until the part of the heat when Julian stuck a big ol’ backside roter for 8.67 points. She had nothing else to write after that, so to speak.

Julian, in tears, dedicated his win to the former Quiksilver CEO Pierre Agnes who went missing while fishing in February. Julian was a longtime Quik rider, which meant he had many dealings with Pierre. With the sun going down, it was hard to take the traditional route of ignoring all feelings and their potential implications and acting tough instead. We managed, though.

Julian is now only a few thousand points shy of your new ratings leader, whose name is not Filipe. The race got real.

As for Ryan, he’s much more talented than his first lap on Tour would lead you to believe. He’ll be a great addition next year. And if not, I’ll routinely accuse the WSL of being biased against goofyfooters without any evidence (aside from the fact that they are).

La Graviere could be firing tomorrow, by the way. The period looks a bit long, but probably not long enough to prevent 6-foot tubes from exploding fifteen feet from the beach.

Tomorrow, we’ll see if they made the right call.

Quiksilver Pro France Final Results: 
1 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.34
2 – Ryan Callinan (AUS) 14.23

Quiksilver Pro France Semifinal Results: 
SF 1: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 15.30 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 11.43
SF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.67 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.44

Quiksilver Pro France Quarterfinal Results: 
QF 1: Conner Coffin (USA) 13.50 def. Adriano De Souza (BRA) 7.83
QF 2: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 15.77 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.03
QF 3: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.10 def. Mikey Wright (AUS) 14.23
QF 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.44 def. Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 10.73

Quiksilver Pro France Round 4 Results:
Heat 1: Conner Coffin (USA) 12.50, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.20, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.80
Heat 2: Ryan Callinan (AUS) 18.53, Adriano De Souza (BRA) 16.50, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 12.44 
Heat 3: Mikey Wright (AUS) 13.96, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.90, Michael Rodrigues (BRA) 6.70
Heat 4: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 15.90, Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.10, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.07

2018 WSL Men’s CT Jeep Leaderboard (After Quiksilver Pro France):
1 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 51,770 pts
2 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 51,450 pts
3 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 47,125 pts
4 – Italo Ferreira (BRA) 33,490 pts
5 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 32,020 pts

Roxy Pro France Final Results:
1 – Courtney Conlogue (USA) 14.76
2 – Macy Callaghan (AUS) 10.96

Roxy Pro France Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 14.14 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.26
SF 2: Macy Callaghan (AUS) 14.33 def. Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 10.73

Roxy Pro France Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 14.67 def. Malia Manuel (HAW) 10.33
QF 2: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.50 def. Johanne Defay (FRA) 12.83
QF 3: Macy Callaghan (AUS) 13.60 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 10.87
QF 4: Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 12.83 def. Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 12.40

2018 WSL Women’s CT Jeep Leaderboard (After Roxy Pro France):
1 – Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 61,175 pts
2 – Lakey Peterson (USA) 54,260 pts
3 – Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 44,770 pts
4 – Carissa Moore (HAW) 44,235 pts
5 – Johanne Defay (FRA) 39,895 pts