Gabriel Medina's Take on Controversial Pipe Pro Final

Even Gabriel Medina, the three-time World Champion watching from home in Brazil, had a take. While recovering from pectoral surgery, Medina watched the final like most surf fans, on a screen thousands of miles removed from the action. Medina is no stranger to voicing his opinion on how judges score waves (typically his own), but in a rare move, he took to Instagram to share his thoughts on the final matchup of the event. 

Here are his thoughts on Mamiya’s 9.8, the running Backdoor barrel that made the Hawaiian a back-to-back Pipe Pro champion, the first since Andy Irons in 2005-06. “It was a really good wave and he did everything right,” Medina said. “It was a fast tube and he was able to pass the foam ball. It had more difficulty. The score was 9.80, which I thought was fair compared to the scores they had given so far.”

Medina said the one left Mamiya got, an 8.17, “was a short wave for Pipeline,” and not all that difficult. By that point Fioravanti was down bad, trailing 17.97 to 1.5. But the Italian Stallion roared back in dramatic fashion. He caught two waves in quick succession that would tie with Mamiya.  

Medina said the first right Leo made, an 8.87, “was at least one point more than Barron’s first wave simply for the fact that he rode over the foam ball two times. When (there is a foam ball) you have to have more stability and it’s more technical. It was a longer wave than Barron’s first wave. I would give it at least one point more, but the difference ended up being less than one point.”

Now the kicker. Here’s what Medina saw on Fioravanti’s last wave, which came in as a 9.10. “I don’t think this wave was the best of the heat,” Medina said. “Maybe a little less than the 9.80. I would give it a 9.50 for the difficulty though. He rode over the foam ball two times. He used a lot of technique, having to slow down. He waited for the foam ball, the wave sped up, he let go, and rode over the foam ball again. The wave was just as long as Barron’s 9.80 and his previous 8.87. For the simple facts of the distance traveled and difficulty, Leo’s two scores could have been a little higher, which, of course, would have changed the result.” 

Medina stopped short of declaring Fioravanti the victor, but his opinions on the scores said as much. Medina the Judge has a strange ring to it, but his credentials speak for themselves. He brings a near-unprecedented level of analysis and insight into competitive surfing. And get this, he’ll be weighing in on the CT again when he commentates for the television company Globo for the upcoming Surf Abu Dhabi Pro.