The world knows by now Gabriel Medina may end up losing a third world title on one simple judging decision. The two-time champ has been on absolute fire down the stretch of the 2019 tour season and quite frankly, he was on fire for the good part of a week in Portugal as well. But that one mistake — that single interference — changed everything. Fourth-place Italo Ferreira leapfrogged into the pole position and poof, he’s wearing the yellow jersey and the WSL gets one of its tightest title battles going into the Pipe Masters ever.
After accounting for each surfer’s two throwaway results, a little more than 6,000 points will separate the top-five athletes on the 2019 Jeep Leaderboard from top to bottom. Of those five surfers, three can now win it all outright by winning the 2019 Pipe Masters, all thanks to a simple interference. Oh, that interference. Things would probably look so incredibly different without it…
Now let’s assume the worst-case scenario out of this all for Gabriel Medina, and he celebrates Christmas in a final ranking lower than first. There’s not a living soul who knows what the inside of a tube looks like who doesn’t believe Medina will still collect more world titles. Three such experts on the subject are Kelly Slater, Steph Gilmore, and Martin Potter, who hold 19 world titles combined.
GOAT, Steph, and Pottz spend the better part of five minutes here narrating everything that makes Gabs such a fierce competitor and elaborate on the makeup of world champion material — something they all agree Medina has in abundance.
And then we get a replay of the moment that may have just cost him a year’s worth of good work.
We in the biz call this drama.
