Gabriel Medina’s 5 Favourite Things About Australia

All photos by Rafael Moura Gabriel Medina knows that difficult takes a day and impossible takes a week. After he won his first world tour event, in France, rather than partying he went back to his digs and watched heats-on-demand, trying to figure out exactly what he did right and how he could do it again at the next event. Stab is very fond of Gab’s genuine passion, and his unhindered drive. And since that French final, it feels like the Brazilian has evened out his work/play mix a little more. He just won his third world tour event, the Quiksilver Pro, Gold Coast, and the celebrations afterwards felt like a little slice of Rio Carnival and it was awesome. And since the win he’s been enjoying the fruits of Australia and, more particularly Queensland. We asked him what his five favourite things about Oz are… 1. Nature: “I visited Currumbin Wild Life Reserve and it was a really cool experience. Being in touch with Australian native animals and seeing the amazing preservation work that they do for wild animals over there was something I enjoyed a lot. I particularly liked the kangaroos!” This is a picture of Gabs heelside-grab ooping on the north coast, but it is also a picture of supreme aerial control. That high and already eyeballing the landing? Hot butter! 2. Drone: “Playing with my drone and getting the best-looking footage with it. It’s a Phantom 2 quadcopter drone, and I just use it to fly my GoPro around. Because Australia is such a photogenic place, I can get the craziest photos and videos from the sky. I really love the bird’s eye angle.” 3. Sweet tooth quality indulgence: “I like to have a Hot chocolate every morning from the best Australian coffee shops. Raw Energy near Mick’s Rip Curl store in Coolangatta is my favourite.” Gabriel has been looking more and more hench in recent months, which is doing wonders for his power, but his above-lip game is still breezy as ever. 4. Land of waves: “I love to explore and train in Australian waves. The variety of rights, lefts, slabs, pointbreaks, beachbreaks and other setups you can find over here is just awesome. It really helps me improve my surfing. My three favourite waves in Australia would have to be Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast, Bells Beach in Victoria and Gallows in West Oz.” Watching with Kelly, post-quarterfinal against Mick, waiting for the score to drop. Obviously, Gabs won the heat. 5. Winning: “Most of all I love to win contests. It felt really good to win in Australia. It was a very special day, one of the happiest days of my life, actually. Some of my best mates on the world tour are from Australia, like Owen, Mick, Wilko and Parko, and Australian people are always really nice to me. And the huge Brazilian community supporting me and screaming my name on the beach was just just crazy! So yeah, I can say that I like to win contests in Australia (laughs).” North coast frontside hammer, with spirit fingers.