Will We See A Gabriel Medina x John John Florence Final?

Small, but still a few lip lines to crack. Round Five at Les Culs Nuls went to the lefts after Keiren Perrow made that call at first light. 

The day started with John Florence and Adriano de Souza, straight back into the title race. Adriano wanted it, but John hung on brightly with the passion of a future world champion. 

The hollow walls and sand groomed ramps of yesterday were nowhere to be found. High scoring manoeuvres were hard placed at the fickle beach break. John John had a slender lead towards the end of the heat, beating ADS 10.64 to 10.37. 

“The way everyone clapped I thought, ‘Oh it was going to be close,” said John John of a wave he gifted Adriano. “It is hard to get a six out there. The energy is great, though,” he added. “I’m super stoked, and super psyched. It’s always going to be a hard heat against Adriano, he is such a competitive surfer and so consistent.”

In the third heat of the round five, it was Caio Ibelli against Julian Wilson. Two natural-footers finished with a mere 0.03 between the two by the buzzer. Caio opened up with a bomb of a left with six hard backhand cracks on an awkward wave; a 7.17 is a good way to capitalise on your heat start. Julian answered with a similar wave and a similar score, and the two surfers dug in and followed each other around the line-up, wave for wave and turn for turn. With Ibelli in the lead and Julian needing a very achievable 5.97, the Australian took off on a rare right-hander, launched into a tail high reverse, landed it, and claimed it. The claim was not that well received, but Julian continued to ride the white water post-claim, eventually getting a reform for a quick turn into the sand for a 6.00, putting him .3 ahead of Caio. 

John v Filipe at a French beachie. Would you be brave enough to bet? John opened up with a 6.67; no one flinched. We all know that there’s more on the way. Then, the heat turned lacklustre. In the end, it was John John’s win. He’ll face Keanu Asing in the semis.  

Going into the next quarterfinals, Jules and Gabs have a complicated history, They’ve matched up nine times in their career. Julian has six wins, but Gabby – next to JJF, the most dominant surfer at France – came out on top. 

In the final heat of the day, Kolohe picked up a few before the wind came up and the conditions went to shit. Kai Otton could not find a score out. Kolohe will meet Gabby in the second semifinal, which is likely to take place tomorrow morning before the high tide. 

Quarterfinal Results: 
QF 1: Keanu Asing 13.04 def. Matt Banting 12.67
QF 2: John John Florence 14.04 def. Filipe Toledo 11.07
QF 3: Gabriel Medina 15.07  def. Julian Wilson 10.13
QF 4: Kolohe Andino 12.70 def. Kai Otton 9.93

Semifinal Match-Ups:
SF 1: Keanu Asing vs. John John Florence
SF 2: Gabriel Medina vs. Kolohe Andino