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World champion Gabriel Medina unleashes expletive-laden tirade after being knocked out of Quiksilver Pro on Gold Coast

WORLD champion Gabriel Medina has unleashed on fellow surfer Glenn Hall after a controversial call ended with him eliminated from the Quiksilver Pro.

Emma Greenwood, Michael Saunders and Tanya Westthorp
9 min read
March 12, 2015 - 11:54AM
Gold Coast Bulletin
Kelly Slater in action on the Gold Coast. Pic by Luke Marsden.
Kelly Slater in action on the Gold Coast. Pic by Luke Marsden.

A TUMULTUOUS day of competition has set the scene for an outstanding finals day at the Quiksilver Pro and Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks tomorrow.

The final eight of the Quiksilver Pro will go ahead without several top names including former world champions Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson and rising star John John Florence.

But the main talking point was the elimination of world champion Gabriel Medina, who could face sanctions after blowing up in his post-heat interview after being knocked out by Irishman Glenn Hall.

GALLERY: QUIKSILVER PRO ROUND 2

Medina unleashed on World Surf League officials and Hall after a controversial interference call.

An hour after being toppled, Medina was still fired up, threatening his opponent Hall during a live TV interview.

“Next time when he says ‘f**k you’ to me, I’ll teach him ...,” Medina said before the interviewer quickly cut him off.

Medina bagged event organisers for extending the event window without being certain of the surf conditions and said World Surf League commissioner Kieren Perrow “didn’t do a really good job’’.

Byron Bay product Perrow labelled the Brazilian’s conduct “not worthy of an athlete at this level’’.

“This is professional surfing’s biggest stage, the stakes are high and there is no shortage of passion,’’ Perrow said.

“Gabriel’s post-heat interview was not worthy conduct of an athlete at this level and the league has engaged in discussions with him and will take further action if necessary.’’

Medina seemed to realise the error of his ways later in the afternoon, retweeting a fan’s post which said he should get his head together and focus on the next event.

And the World Surf League posted a photo of Medina and Hall chatting happily in the competitors’ lounge.

ROUND 5, HEAT 4: Gold CoasterBede Durbidge has moved through to the final eight with a clinical display in his knockout heat against South African Jordy Smith.

Durbidge used his knowledge of the Snapper Rocks break to select his rides well and posted two strong scores from his first two waves to progress.

Durbidge opened with a 6.33 ride before posting a heat-high 9.50 for one of the scores of the day.

After a disappointing showing at his home event last year, Durbidge has put himself in with a show for tomorrow’s finals by surfing strongly throughout the event.

ROUND 5, HEAT 3: Adriano de Souza has knocked Aussie Matt Wilkinson out in a tight contest.

De Souza led early before Wilkinson roared back into the contest, posting a heat-high score of 8.97.

But the Brazilian had the last say, replacing his back-up score of 7.6 with an 8.67 on his last wave to progress to the final eight.

ROUND 5, HEAT 2: Veteran Taj Burrow has pushed through to the quarter-finals and remains one of the main threats to win the Quiksilver Pro after beating rookie Italo Ferreira in his Round 5 heat.

Burrow dominated early but faced plenty of competition from the young Brazilian, who has shown he will be one to watch on tour this year.

Burrow opened with an 8.5 to unsettle his young rival but Ferreira hit back with an 8.17 to back up his first score of 7.33, with Burrow sneaking the win by just 0.23 points.

West Australian Burrow knew he was in for a fight.

“I wasn’t taking Italo lightly at all ... I knew he was going to be tough,’’ Burrow said.

“I was going to be really selective (of the waves taken).’’

ROUND 5, HEAT 1: The Brazilian march continues, with rookie Wiggolly Dantas knocking Irishman Glenn Hall out of the competition.

Dantas avenged the loss of countryman and world champion Gabriel Medina to Hall in Round 3, during which the pair were involved in a fiery exchange of words in the water.

Dantas is showing plenty in his first Quiksilver Pro, posting outstanding scores of 8.17 and 9.17 to knock hall out of the contest 17.34-13.33.

ROUND 4, HEAT 4: Filipe Toledo has continued his outstanding form at Snapper Rocks, making the final eight of the Quiksilver Pro after beating Jordy Smith and Matt Wilkinson in a high-quality heat.

Toledo scored an outstanding 17.83, including a heat-high 9.23 to win through to the quarters.

Normally highly active, especially in smaller surf, Toledo picked his marks, catching just three waves in the heat.

But he registered two outstanding scores to push Smith and Wilkinson into a sudden-death Round 5 battle.

ROUND 4, HEAT 3: Mick Fanning is poised to take advantage of the knockout of several top seeds after progressing to the quarter-finals of the Quiksilver Pro.

After world champion Gabriel Medina and former titleholders Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson were eliminated in a tumultuous morning, Fanning won his knockout Round 3 heat before progressing to the quarters with a win against Adriano de Souza and Bede Durbidge in a talent-packed heat.

Fellow Gold Coaster Durbidge dominated the early stages of the three-man battle, with Fanning and de Souza taking their time to pick the best of the improving Snapper Rocks break.

Fanning took just three waves in the heat but his home-break knowledge paid dividends, with each of them high-range scores.

And his heat-high 8.67 was precious, with the score allowing him to progress after he and de Souza finished tied on 16.50.

ROUND 4, HEAT 2: Sunshine Coast surfer Julian Wilson has booked his place in the quarter-finals after beating veteran Taj Burrow and Irishman Glenn Hall.

Wilson, long regarded as one of the best talents on tour, posted two strong scores, including an 8.23 — the heat’s high score — while Burrow and Hall battled to find a good back-up for their best wave.

ROUND 4, HEAT 1: Gabriel Medina may have been knocked out but the Brazilians march on the Quiksilver Pro, with Miguel Pupo, Wiggolly Dantas and Italo Ferreira doing battle in the opening heat of Round 4.

Pupo dominated the contest, registering two eight-plus scores for a score of 17.23 (out of a possible 20) to beat Dantas (13.47) and Ferreira (13.37).

The world No. 19 booked a place in the quarter-finals to take advantage of a contest already without several top seeds following the elimination of Medina, Slater, Parkinson and Florence in the morning.

EARLIER: Medina’s live interview rant was referring to words he and Hall had in the water when Medina was controversially called for interference.

“One day I’ll try to understand this new rule,” he said.

“That was a really bad call (to hold the competition) we waited 10 days and extended it for two days for waves like this.”

Hall upset the popular Brazilian with a score of 14.23 to 7.50.

The shock elimination came after Medina was slapped with an interference call — stripped of his highest wave score after he had caught the same wave as Hall despite Hall having priority.

While the Irish surfer was winning the heat by less than a point before the interference, he went on to seal a comprehensive victory after the call was made.

It prompted outrage on the beach from Medina’s throng of vocal fans.

After the win, Hall, who lives on the Central Coast but has an Irish passport, said he and Medina had words in the surf.

“I think he was trying to cut out but it was just way too close,” he said.

“We had words, I was explaining why I was angry and he was telling me to calm down.

“It wasn’t anything personal, I was legitimately stoked for him last year, he's a really good dude.”

Bede Durbidge and Coolangatta’s Mick Fanning escaped the “round three curse”.

Fanning won his heat against Hawaiian Dusty Payne — flexing his powerful surfing style in the improving conditions finishing with a heat total of 17.56 points to Payne’s 14.54.

In heat nine Brazil’s Adriano de Souza came out on top easily with a score of 14.76 to Freddy Patacchia Jr’s score of 1.13.

UPDATE: BRAZIL’s rising rookies have claimed another major scalp with former world champion Joel Parkinson losing his elimination heat to tour newcomer Wiggolly Dantas today.

Parkinson, who joins 11-time champ Kelly Slater who was also eliminated this morning, struggled to find waves in the small and “mushy” conditions, riding just four waves within the 30 minute heat.

Dantas used his excellent backside skills to “combo” Parkinson and win the heat 15.78 points to 5.84 points.

The 25-year-old from Sao Paulo entered the round three heat fresh off a late round 2 victory over Australia’s Kai Otton yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile Parkinson waited more than 11 days since his round one victory to enter the water at Snapper Rocks for the competition.

In a heat marred by controversy, Parkinson was visibly upset when Dantas had seemingly crossed into his path as he was paddling onto a wave.

The Snapper Rocks local just managed to get on to the wave but had lost a lot of his takeoff speed as a result of the incident.

Parkinson was seen waving his hands at the judges tower after the wave but no interference call was made.

While no official protest was made, Parkinson was seen pleading his case with commissioner Kieren Perrow after the heat.

However Dantas believes he was in the right and said the Snapper Rocks local was purposely swimming into him to get the interference call.

“I just wanted to get out of his way but he kept paddling close to me,” Dantas said.

“I was like ‘you have priority just go’ but he kept swimming into me.

“He was freaking out and said ‘you blocked me’ but I just kept my focus and tried to get a good wave.”

As a result Parkinson finished tied 13th at this year’s event, his worst finish in his career.

Dantas will move on to round four of the Quiksilver Pro.

After the loss, a disappointed Parkinson said “I don’t think the best surfer will win this event, it will be the luckiest”.

“I’ll just notch that one up and move on,” he said.

Meanwhile West Australia’s Taj Burrow posted the highest heat total of the day so far to defeat Hawaiian Sebastian Zietz.

Burrow surfed strongly at the beginning of the heat scoring a 7.17 on his opening wave followed by a near-perfect 9.43 points on his second ride.

Despite scoring more than eight waves in the heat Zietz struggled to find a high scoring ride.

Burrow will now progress through to round four.

Sunshine Coast surfer Julian Wilson has progressed through to round four after defeating American Nat Young in heat five today.

In what was a low scoring heat, Wilson relied on his powerful turns to take the heat 10.43 to 8.94.

The 26-year-old former Rookie of the Year is tipped for big things in 2015 after winning the Pipeline Pro in Hawaii at the end of last year.

He will now progress through to round four.

RD 3, HEAT 3 UPDATE: ELEVEN time world champion Kelly Slater and Cooly kid Joel Parkinson have bowed out of the Quiksilver Pro in shocking conditions this morning.

Slater was the first to be eliminated after a shock loss to Brazilian rookie Italo Ferreira this morning.

Parkinson then followed suit in the third heat losing to Brazilian Wiggolly Dantas who scored 15.77 to Parko’s 9.93.

The 43-year-old Slater struggled to find scoreable waves in the heat while Ferreira thrived in the smaller conditions, winning comfortably

In a bizarre turn of events, Slater gave up priority to paddle in to shore and switch surfboards with less than 10 minutes to go in his heat.

Slater switched from his sponsored Channel Islands surfboard to a “Tomo Surfboards” designed Firewire brand, which the champion surfer recently bought shares in.

Despite the board switch, Slater did not catch a wave for the remainder of the heat as Ferreira used his priority to his advantage.

After his elimination an unfazed Slater said he was ‘bummed’ he didn’t get a chance to show what his new board could do.

“The waves are pretty bad and we had to make the best of it,” he said.

“It is just one event but it’s not the best way to start.

“But the first year I won the championship, I came 31st in the first event and ended up having a pretty good year.”

Ferreira will progress on to round four of the Quiksilver Pro.

Meanwhile Aussie Josh Kerr has been eliminated by Brazilian Miguel Pupo in a close heat. Kerr scored 13.20 to Pupo’s 13.67.

The Gold Coast’s Joel Parkinson is in the water now, while other local stars Mick Fanning and Bede Durbidge will surf later in the day.

RELATED: CHAMP SAYS SNAPPER DOESN’T ‘ROCK’

Rolling Coverage to follow:

To come today:

Heat 2: Josh Kerr (Australia) and Miguel Pupo (Brazil)

Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (Australia) and Wiggolly Dantas (Brazil)

Heat 4: Taj Burrow (Australia) and Sebastian Zietz (Hawaii)

Heat 5: Nat Young (USA) and Julian Wilson (Australia)

Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (Brazil) and Glenn Hall (Ireland)

Heat 7: Mick Fanning (Australia) and Dusty Payne (Hawaii)

Heat 8: Owen Wright (Australia) and Bede Durbidge (Australia)

Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (Brazil) and Freddy Patacchia Jr (Hawaii)

Heat 10: Jordy Smith (South Africa) and Matt Banting (Australia)

Heat 11: Kolohe Andino (USA) and Filipe Toledo (Brazil)

Heat 12: John John Florence (Hawaii) and Matt Wilkinson (Australia)

QUIKSILVER PRO ROUND TWO

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Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/sport/surf-sports/world-champion-gabriel-medina-unleashes-expletiveladen-tirade-after-being-knocked-out-of-quiksilver-pro-on-gold-coast/news-story/5786435351d03ae63920f8402b0f300a