Gabriel Medina

Gabriel Medina Pinto Ferreira (born 22 December 1993) is a Brazilian professional surfer who won the 2014, 2018 and 2021 WSL World Championships. With 18 WSL Championship Tour (CT) event wins and 31 Final appearances under his belt, Medina is one of the most experienced surfers when it comes to producing the best surfing under pressure. Medina is 2nd only to Kelly Slater for the most World Titles among surfers currently on the men's CT. At home in Brazil, the goofy-footer is considered a national hero thanks to the World Titles he delivered. His explosive repertoire of above-the-lip maneuvers earned him several amateur titles in his early teens, including Rip Curl’s Grom Search, Quiksilver’s King of the Groms, and several National titles. In 2009, a 15-year-old Medina became the youngest surfer ever to win a major Qualifying Series event. Medina joined the world's elite of the World Surf League Tour in 2011 at 17 years of age (alongside eventual rival John John Florence), and in his rookie year he finished within the top 12 of the ASP (now WSL) World Tour. His high-flying acrobatic approach and his impact on the international stage poured fuel on the fledgling Brazilian Storm, a fresh injection of like-minded young professional surfers from Brazil who now occupy one-third of the CT roster. Since 2015, Medina has earned more Championship Tour victories than any other competitor and his dominance on has turned him into a perennial World Title contender. Media sources credit him as being the second person to have executed a maneuver called the "Backflip". Medina also became the first person ever to land this move in competition, held in Rio de Janeiro - Brasil. Life and career Born in São Sebastião, São Paulo, and raised in the city's district of Maresias, is the son of Simone Pinto Medina and Claudio de Jesus Ferreira. Medina began surfing at age nine and at 11 won his first national championship—the Rip Curl Grom Search in the category Sub-12, held in Búzios, Rio de Janeiro. Medina won many Brazilian amateur championships, becoming champion at the Volcom Sub-14, Quicksilver King of Groms, and Rip Curl Grom Search, besides conquering the state championship three times. In California, he was second at the Volcom Internacional Sub-14, and in Ecuador, vice-champion of the Amateur World Sub-16 Championship.