Brazil’s Italo Ferreira on Thursday upset compatriot Gabriel Medina to win his first world surfing title in powerful, but less-than-perfect waves at Hawaii’s famed Pipeline.
Ferreira used perfect timing and positioning to negotiate the biggest, most critical tubing waves, often punctuating them with technical aerial maneuvers to finish.
“This was my dream, you know. I dedicated all my life to this,” Ferreira said after being carried up the beach and doused in champagne.
Photo: AFP
He dedicated his win to his grandmother and an uncle, who both died in the past few weeks.
Five surfers went into the final event of the 11-stop World Championship Tour (WCT) in contention for the title, but it all came down to Medina and Ferreira.
With the WCT doubling as the qualifier for half of the men’s field at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Brazilian one-two sent a powerful message to their rivals ahead of surfing’s Olympic debut.
Ferreira got off to a strong start in the final, racking up two solid scores to pile the pressure on Medina, a two-time world champion and one of the best at the dangerous Pipeline.
Medina got back in the contest with a deep tube ride of his own before Ferreira extended his lead and held his nerve until the final hooter.
Kelly Slater, 47, showed that he is still a threat at his favorite spot, having won the first of his seven Pipeline Masters on Oahu’s North Shore in 1992.
Regarded as the greatest surfer of all time, Slater scored the only perfect 10-point ride of the event in an earlier round, threading an unfeasibly long tube at Backdoor, Pipeline’s less predictable and equally violent right-hand alter ego.
However, Slater was knocked out by Ferreira in the semi-finals and failed to overtake Hawaii’s John John Florence in the race for a spot on the US Olympic team.
If Slater is surfing’s undisputed king, Medina is the closest thing to its dark knight — intensely focused, hyper-competitive and without weakness.
He proved that again in his round-of-16 heat with a cynically brilliant move against compatriot Caio Ibelli.
With seconds left, Medina dropped in on Ibelli’s wave without priority, taking the penalty of scoring his second wave at zero, but preventing his rival from getting the modest score that he needed.
Medina then stormed through the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and looked destined for a third world title before Ferreira toppled him in a gripping finale.
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