Brazil’s teenage surfing sensation Gabriel Medina (BRA), 17, and newcomer to the elite ASP Top 34 after the September rotation, has already scalped his second elite tour win, claiming the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco over an on-fire Joel Parkinson (Gold Coast, Qld, AUS), 30, in pulsing three-to-four foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves at Ocean Beach.
Event No. 10 of 11 on the 2011 ASP World Title season, the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco suffered no shortage of action this week with sporting icon Kelly Slater (Florida, USA), 39, claiming a historic 11th ASP World Title before the ascension of the young Brazilian on the final day of competition.
Medina, who joined the ASP Top 34 after the midyear rotation, has been in amazing form thus far, winning two events after competing in just four as an official member of the 2011 roster. The highly-touted Brazilian wasted little time in his Final campaign against Parkinson, belting a 7.50 and a 9.00, both out of 10, in the opening minutes with critical backhand blasts and controlled the heat throughout its entirety
Medina’s run on the Final day of competition was nothing short of amazing, as he took the day’s highest heat total of 17.33, out of 20, while defeating freshly crowned 11-Time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 39, and Taylor Knox (USA), 40, before topping the Stylish Australian in the Final.
Medina who has developed his English by spending extended time in both Australia and the USA this year said it was a dream come true.
Parkinson quietly navigated through the opening rounds of competition, but lit up the high-performance beach break conditions on the final day, threading several technical barrels and unloading his patented carves en route to the Final, but was unable to put a stop to Medina and finished runner-up overall. Parkinson said Medina is the sports next big superstar, comparing the prodigy talent to that of Slater’s.
Taylor Knox (USA), 40, was impressive in the powerful beach break conditions on offer at Ocean Beach, besting high-flying Brazilian Miguel Pupo (BRA), 19, veteran Australian Kieren Perrow (Byron Bay, Qld, AUS), 34, and Bede Durbidge (Gold Coast, Qld AUS), 28, to match his season-best result of an equal 3rd place finish after he fell to Medina in the Semifinals
Alejo Muniz (BRA), 21, 2011 ASP Dream Tour rookie, matched his best result of the year today, cracking the Semifinals for the third time this season. The young South American blitzed an in-form Brett Simpson (USA), 26, in the Quarterfinals before going down to Parkinson in the Semifinals despite vaulting some solid aerials
Slater fought hard in his Quarterfinals matchup against young Brazilian Gabriel Medina, but was unable to find the score needed to advance out of the heat and is now changing his focus towards the final stop on the ASP World Tour at the iconic Banzai Pipeline. Slater who finished equal fifth overall said a win would have been nice, but he had done what he had come to do and that was to claim the 2011 ASP World Title.
RESULTS
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO FINALS RESULTS:
1 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.50 2 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.90
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.33 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 14.27
SF 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.97 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.34
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 14.96 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.83
QF 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.50 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 11.10
QF 3: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.83 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 11.83
QF 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.76 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.93
RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SAN FRANCISCO ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 14.67 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.83
Heat 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.93 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.70
Heat 3: Brett Simpson (USA) adv. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) *Gudauskas withdraws due to injury
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.60 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 6.40
CURRENT ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (After Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 63350 pts
2. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 48,600 pts
3. Owen Wright (AUS) 47,900 pts
4. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 43,700 pts
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 42,200 pts