Busting airs like this makes you wonder about that ankle. Photo: ASP/Smorigo
Gabriel Medina, another young, high-flying, aerial maneuvering, tube riding, carving phenom has recently come off an ankle injury. Similarly, so has his other young superstar counterpart, John John Florence.
Medina injured his ankle during the first event of the 2013 ASP World Tour season at the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks in Australia. Not only was this the kickoff event of the season, but Medina hurt his ankle during the first round.
Just like John John, Medina suffered his injury on an aerial attempt, but he not only managed to finish the heat, he also won it, capping it off with a 9.5 ride during the final minutes of the heat to take down Kieren Perrow and Tiago Pires. Medina also went on to finish the event and has not missed an ASP competition since. So how severe was his injury?
The severity of the injury was kept hush-hush by Medina and his team so no one really knows how bad the sprain actually was. Just by watching his surfing and his results this year, it looks as if it could be affecting him more than most believe. So far this year, Medina has had only one finish outside of the third round–at the Billabong Pro Rio where he found himself in the semi-finals before losing to fellow Brazilian, Adriana de Souza.
Through the first five ASP World Tour events in 2012, Medina already had a third round finish at Australia’s Bells Beach, a quarter-finals appearance at the Billabong Pro Teahupoo, where he lost to John John Florence, and a finals appearance at the Volcom Fiji Pro where he came up short against the King, Kelly Slater.
Medina hasn’t had as much hype or suspense as he did last year either. We hear his name less and less when watching the ASP events. Is Medina just in a slump, is his ankle still affecting him physically, or is the ankle even playing a part mentally as well? Only Medina can answer that question, but we hope to see this Brazilian on top again and earning the respect of all by being given one name, maybe “Medina,” like his soccer star counterparts.
