Gabriel Medina has a 12-year-old sister named Sophia, and she is following right in her brother’s footsteps. Last month, she won the Rip Curl Grom Search Brazil, beating competitors up to four years older than her. Now, she’s secured a place for the 2019 World Final of the event.
Remember back in 2010 when Gabriel Medina was a but a blip on surfing’s radar? Granted, it was a very large blip, but that was the year that he too won the Rip Curl Grom Search.
“Some years ago, I participated in this same championship and it was where it all started,” Gabriel wrote on Instagram after his little sister won. “Today I woke up with the news that my sister was a champion and is going to compete in the Rip Curl Grom Search world final… congratulations my little one, happy to see you evolving and doing what you like, very proud of you! I love you!”
According to the World Surf League, Sophia has been training along with Gabriel at the Instituto Gabriel Medina, which, if you haven’t already heard of, is a free school in São Paulo that “offers, for free, the same structure that today Gabriel Medina counts on his technical training, and also physical and medical, besides providing language and computing classes to the athletes, in order to aim the future tracks.” The Instituto Gabriel Medina is headed up by Simone Medina, the mother of Gabriel and Sophia.
With a world champion for an older brother, a training facility like none other, and a scary amount of natural talent, it’s very likely that Sophia—if she wants to—will make a very big impression on the world tour in the future.
