The third day of the Billabong Pro Tahiti was a big one: it had the heat that should have been a final, surfers out that should have been final contenders… all in eight short heats.
Medina beats John John in all out grudge match
The most anticipated heat of the year, John John Florence versus Gabriel Medina, was more impressive than most of us could have imagined. Both surfers had two 9-point rides in their final heat total and threw away another 9-pointer in the process.
That’s six near-perfect waves in one heat!
With all this action boiling down to the last two minutes, it’s safe to say everybody watching was on the edge of their seat with their hearts thumping out of their chest.
Medina took command in the early stages of the heat, posting four waves before Florence stood up on his first. Medina’s fourth wave was his first nine, pulling in deep and standing tall in a huge barrel to set the heat into hyper speed earning a 9.07.
Seeing Italo Ferreira take to the air in the heat before, Florence wasn’t afraid to try it out for himself after pulling out of a small tube, earning a 7.77 for the combination to put him on the board.
Medina also pulled off an air reverse, working with an inside wave that wasn’t going to open up. Using it as an opening maneuver he pulled off three more turns to complete the wave. Although two judges seemed to be impressed, the other three made it clear that this contest is all about the tube, scoring Medina’s aerial attack only 6.60.
With 15 minutes still on the clock, Florence dropped his first nine. Under priority he late dropped into a drainer, holding on tight he got spit out and headed towards the lip. Finishing off with a fin drift dropping back onto the reef, the judges rewarded his commitment with a 9.57 and Florence took the lead.
Florence dropped in again almost immediately and grabbed back to back nines logging a 9.07.
Fired up, Medina answered back dropping farther back off the peak and finding a deeper tube. As he got spit out, he eyed Florence paddling back out in front of him and switched into extra competitive mode, not taking any time to celebrate he was able to take back priority.
Sitting with priority, Medina heard his score over the loud speaker, a 9.27, enough to chip away at Florence’s lead.
John John didn’t really care much for priority as he was able to find another bomb without it, this one coming in at a 9.27 replacing his 9.07 in the last eight minutes of the heat.
The reigning World Champion just wasn’t going to give up. With the clock ticking down, Florence’s score had yet to be announced, but Medina saw it and knew he’d need something big to take the win. Still waiting on John John’s scores, Medina gave it all he got dropping and shoving both arms into the wall to put him as deep as possible. Disappearing behind the curtain for a split second, he left us wondering if he was going to come out. Then in true Champion fashion, he busts through the foam with his arm raised high claiming that would be enough.
And it sure was. Needing a 9.58 after Florence’s 9.27 was announced, Medina was rewarded a 9.73, one judge scoring it a perfect 10.
With three minutes left, the scores came through putting Medina on top, but that didn’t stop both surfers from throwing themselves over the ledge a few more times before Medina was eventually given the nod and would advance on to Round 4.
And then came the upsets…
As everybody settled their heart rates and took to social media to either congratulate the World Champ or blame the judges for John John’s defeat, current World No. 1 Adriano de Souza faced off against friend and fellow Brazilian, Bruno Santos.
Although De Souza put up a good fight against the wildcard and former event winner, even posting an 8.10, it wasn’t enough and he will have to surrender the yellow jersey at the end of the event. I’m not going to say we all expected that, but I’m pretty sure we all expected that.
What no one expected was that World No. 2 and the favorite to take that yellow jersey, Mick Fanning, would fall to another wildcard in the heat after. SPOILER ALERT: That’s exactly what happened.
Fanning just couldn’t find a rhythm while Aritz Aranburu found his early on. Aranburu dropped in wave after wave logging a 7.00 and an 8.17 in the first 10 minutes as Fanning just seemed to be enjoying the show, floating out the back. Fanning’s only real wave was a 5.17 and that didn’t even happen until there was eight minutes left on the clock.
Fanning will stay 250 points behind De Souza in the rankings as they both will most likely drop a few spots when it’s all said and done.
Julian Wilson, Filipe Toledo, and Owen Wright all have a chance at the number one spot now.
This one is shaping up to be a brawl against the Brazilians with five still in it.
Italo Ferreira, Gabriel Medina and Bruno Santos will face off in an all Brazilian, all goofy battle in the second heat of Round 4.
