TONIC | news
Quiksilver
and Roxy Pro
Brazilian Gabriel Medina’s historic triumph
makes him the first Brazilian and only
the second goofy-footer ever to win the
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast. Medina beat
2013 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast runnerup Joel Parkinson in a nail-biting Final and
maintained his trend of come-from-behind
victories in the final minutes.
Medina previously dispatched reigning threetime World Champion, Mick Fanning, in the
Quarterfinals and multiple Quiksilver Pro
Gold Coast Champion,
Taj Burrow, in the Semifinals.
Photo Cestari/ASP
6 – autumn IssuE
“It’s an honor to win this
event,” said Medina. “This is
the hardest event of the whole
Tour and I feel like all the best
surfers in the world, Mick
(Fanning), Parko (Joel Parkinson) and Taj (Burrow), have
won it. It’s been a dream to win
since I was a grommet. I’ve
been watching those guys on
videos and reading about them
in magazines. Today I had
the opportunity to compete
against them and I couldn’t let
this chance go.
It’s weird, it’s really weird, but it
feels so good.”
“Second two years in a row is
heartbreaking, but on the other
hand it’s still a great start to the
year,” Parkinson said. “I said
the other day that World Titles
aren’t won or lost at the first
event. If I didn’t have a shocker
at Bells last year I would have
been right in the Title race, so
hopefully I can improve on
that this year. Gabriel (Medina)
is a huge talent, he deserves
the win and has been on fire
today so congrats to him.”
Stephanie Gilmore, five-time
ASP Women’s World Champion, claimed her fifth Roxy Pro
Gold Coast event title, with a
sensational performance. Gilmore dispatched reigning
two-time ASP Women’s World
Champion Carissa Moore in
your regular dose of Surf News.