Kelly Slater reacts as controversy hits surfing’s world title race

Surfing legend Kelly Slater has weighed in after a moment of madness sparked controversy and threw a spanner into the world title race.

Surfing legend Kelly Slater has slammed online trolls targeting Caio Ibelli after he was involved in a controversial moment with Gabriel Medina that knocked the latter out of the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal.

Brazilian star Medina may miss out on the World Surf League (WSL) title because of his shock exit, which came when he was penalised for an interference blunder in his round of 16 heat against countryman Ibelli.

Medina was leading 14.34 to 7.17 before a moment of confusion saw both surfers paddle for a wave at the same time. Ibelli was ruled to have priority, meaning Medina was docked all points for his lower-scoring wave to bring the scores back to 8.17 to 7.17. Ibelli then managed to grab a 3.10 to knock Medina out.

Stream Live coverage of every event of the WSL Championship Tour on KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly

Medina, who entered the event on top of the world standings as he seeks to add to his titles in 2014 and 2018, released a statement arguing he should have had priority after completing the previous wave before his opponent.

On Instagram Medina posted side-by-side clips of the surfers and said the verdict should be reviewed, while Ibelli revealed he’d since received thousands of threats and ugly messages from Medina fans.

“I’ve been getting more than 10,000 messages in the last 12 hours,” Ibelli told Stab Mag. “Mostly people talking s*** about me, threatening, talking about my dignity like I did something wrong.

“Gabriel positioned himself very bad, and put his and (Brazilian football star) Neymar’s millions and millions of followers against me. I don’t think that was cool.”

Surfing royalty Slater said anyone criticising Ibelli was clueless and also called on Medina to accept he was in the wrong.

“Gabe should have looked at the disc,” Slater told Stab. “Anytime it’s close you always look and confirm. The fact that people are giving Caio a hard time shows they don’t know what they’re talking about.

“It’s a bummer. It’s an emotional one for him (Medina). I get it. I wish he would just post that he messed up and doesn’t agree but it was his fault for not looking.”

Ibelli added: “It’s a very delicate situation, I’m still waiting on the WSL to put out the whole review about keeping the result. I know the real reason why the result was kept, but the way Gabriel’s team edited his version (on Instagram) is very biased and solid in his favour.

“The real reason is not so much like that, but I’m waiting for real and concrete information to bring up the subject on my social media.”

Gabriel Medina believes he was robbed.

WORLD SURF LEAGUE PRIORITY RULE

The surfer with priority has the unconditional right of way to catch any wave they choose. Other surfers in the heat can paddle for, and catch, the same wave, but only if they do not hinder the scoring potential of a surfer with priority. A surfer loses priority once they catch a wave and/or a surfer paddles for but misses a wave. If two or more surfers catch a wave, the first surfer to make it to the take-off zone will get priority.