Gabriel Medina Becomes the First Goofy Footer to Win the J-Bay Open in 35 Years

Today Gabriel Medina has won the Corona J-Bay Open in South Africa, putting himself in the perfect position to fight for the 2019 World Title.

In a historic moment for surfing, Gabriel Medina (BRA) has won the Corona J-Bay Open, stop No.6on the World Surf LeagueChampionship Tour. With a near-perfect Final heat in firing overhead surf, the 2x and reigning WSL World Champion became the first goofy-footer to win at Jefferey’s Bay since Mark Occhilupo’s (AUS) victory in 1984.

Gabrieltakes home his firstCT win of 2019with victory at the coveted South African right-hander, again solidifying his spot amongst the world’sbest in 2019. With his 13thcareer CT win Gabriel has narrowed the gap between himand Jeep Rankings LeaderKolohe Andino(USA), putting himself well and truly in the World Title race mix.

“It’s been a long journey to make the final here is South Africa, this contest is really special and hard to win so I’m super happy.” Gabriel said. “Italo is so dangerous, even when I had him combed in the last three minutes, I wasn’t comfortable.”

Medina’s win today looked to be in jeopardy after Italo Ferreira (BRA) opened up the Men’s Final with an excellent 9.1ride, but Medinawas quick to bounce back and posted an almost perfect 9.73minutes after Italo’s first wave. Medina then went on to take advantage of the momentum ending the Final with another near-perfect 9.77and heat total of 19.5.

As the defending champion of the next two stops (Teahupoʻo Pro, Tahiti and The Freshwater Pro Lemoore, California,) when asked about the upcoming events Medina simply said,

“I’m back.”

Looking towardsthe final halfof the 2019CT season, Gabriel is in a solidposition to ramp up his campaign for the 2019World Title. Trailing just 6,950points behind Number One, it is set to be an exciting race all the way to the final event at Pipeline, Hawaii. The 2019World Title race is heating up, and after adominatetrack record in the second half ofMen’sWSL CT, Gabriel looks readyto defend his World Title.

J-Bay Open Men’s Final Results:

1 - Gabriel Medina (BRA) 19.50

2 - Italo Ferreira (BRA) 16.55

J-Bay Open Women’s Final Results:

1 - Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.47

2 - Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.60

2019 WSL Men's CT Jeep Leaderboard (After J-Bay Open)

1 – Kolohe Andino (USA) 33,845 points

2 – Felipe Toledo (BRA) 33,280

3 – John John Florence (USA) 32,425

4 – Italo Ferreira (BRA) 29,950

5 – Kanoa Igarashi (AUS) 29,450

6 – Jordy Smith (RSA) 29,365

7 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 26,895