Mick Fanning’s secret role in Gabriel Medina’s world championship win

Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and Hawaiian Carissa Moore became the world surfing champions on Wednesday. Mick Fanning has paid tribute to the young surfer he helped build.

Brazil’s Gabriel Medina on his way to winning the world title at Trestles in California Picture: Getty Images

Gabriel Medina needed a sparring partner. Someone to surf mock heats against before the WSL Finals.

Someone to hassle him and tug his leg rope and sledge him. Someone who’d get in his face.

He went to the secretive California break known as D Street and took an experienced slugger with him. Mick Fanning.

Medina and Fanning have always had a rather big brother, little brother relationship. They’re genuinely close.

The young Brazilian bull was trying to do a Fanning at Lower Trestles in California by becoming a three-time world champion, he leaned on the older Australian bull more than ever for advice, mateship and mentorship in Orange County. He’s the world champion Fanning helped build.

Fanning was in the commentary box when Medina’s clean, fast and futuristic surfing took him past fellow Brazilian Filipe Toledo in straight sets in their best of three-heat final for the world crown.

“Oh, dear,” Fanning said when an eight-foot shark briefly cruised through the contest zone, stalling proceedings, giving Fanning flashbacks of Jeffreys Bay.

The finals went on hold for a short while before Medina and light-footed Hawaiian Carissa Moore proved unstoppable in a mostly fantastic inaugural edition of the one-day shootout for world titles.

Fanning revealed: “I actually had a couple of mock heats with him just the other day out at D Street. I was doing some paddling and stuff, trying to hassle him a bit.

“He left me for dead. It was like a speed boat versus a little tinny. I was trying to grab his leg rope and stuff but it just did not work.

“He’s just got so many ways to win. It’s an amazing win and I got a bit emotional, to be honest. He’s a great young man.

“I’ve known him behind the contest jersey for a long time. He’s always been super kind. He’s always been that warm, giving person. Well done, brother. I’m so proud of you.”

Medina said: “I’m so happy. I’m crying right now. A mix of all the emotions. Sad. Happy. Excited. That was a long year, you know?

“This was my biggest goal in surfing, three world championships. It’s not every day you accomplish your dream. It’s a day I’ll remember forever and tell my kids about.”

Half the interest in The Finals was whether the governing body had erred in throwing 40 years of tradition out the window by staging a rapid-fire, made-for-TV showdown for the world crowns.

What used to be a soulful, globetrotting, multi-layered, long-haul odyssey decided in huge surf, small surf, tubing surf, dangerous surf and bubblegum surf was now coming down to a single hit-and-run contest at the rather lightweight location of Lower Trestles in California.

Verdict? Great format. Wrong location.

Because Trestles is barely any different to a thousand other breaks in the world. Best at four-to-six feet. Decent rights and lefts.

Carissa Moore and Gabriel Medina celebrate their world titles Picture: Getty Images

Not bad at all, but the Finals and the surfers deserve something better. Think of the truly iconic moments in professional surfing history.

They’ve all come at the most prestigious and jaw-dropping venues. Top of the list are Bells Beach, Pipeline and Jeffreys Bay.

They become part of the show. Mother Nature at her glorious best. Dream waves. Thunderous waves.

They’re the great proving grounds of the sport, testing courage as well as skill. That’s where the world champions should be crowned.

I’ve surfed Bells, Pipe and J-Bay, and they were unforgettable. I’ve surfed Trestles, too, and can barely remember it.

One of the commentators on Wednesday said, “Trestles is pumping! It looks like mini-Sunset!” Which made me think, um, why not hold it at Sunset?

Regardless, the best surfers got through. Medina beat countryman Toledo 2-0 in their best-of-three-heats championship stoush. Hawaii’s Carissa Moore lost the first heat of her decider against Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb before powering through the next two. She has five world crowns. She’s 29 years of age. She’s by far and away the most dominant female surfer in the world, winning Olympic gold this year while barely getting her hair wet. She’s become short odds to eclipse the seven world titles of Steph Gilmore and Layne Beachley by the time she’s done.

Carissa Moore of Hawaii won her fifth world title Picture: Getty Images

Gilmore lost her first heat of the day. She had a shocker, falling constantly, losing to Frenchwoman Johanne Defay as commentator Pete Mel said she “cracked under the pressure.” Gilmore lamented, “Not my finest moment.”

Newcastle’s Morgan Cibilic lost his first heat to American Conner Coffin. “If you haven’t seen anyone crumble before, now you have,” he said.

Geroa’s Sally Fitzgibbons beat Defay but then lost narrowly to Weston-Webb in the penultimate round. Another close shave for Fitzgibbons, another heartbreak, before Medina and Moore were chaired up the beach in scenes of pure ecstasy and relief.

It was a very long day,” Moore said. “I had to fight my way back so that made it sweeter to win. I was about to have a meltdown after losing my first heat but I tried my best, surfed from the heart and it worked out. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”