It was an out-of-nowhere admission for the three-time world champ. Photo: WSL
Gabriel Medina says he doesn’t have a full-size trophy from his 2021 world title to match those of his 2014 and 2018 championship campaigns. In a YouTube video, Medina holds the smaller 2021 trophy at his home in Maresias, Brazil, and claims the WSL told him the real trophy would cost him $30,000.
“That’s from ‘14, and this one here is from ‘18,” Medina says, displaying his trophies to Brazilian pro surfers Marcelo Trekinho and Gabriel Pastori, who run a YouTube channel called Uaradei. “But this one here (pointing at the 2021 trophy), they told me, ‘You want one of those? $30,000.’”
Medina explains that if he wanted the “true” trophy, he’d have to cough up the five-figure sum of cash.
“I’ve never told anyone that,” Medina confided to the group.
The WSL did not immediately respond to a request to confirm and/or explain Medina’s claim about the $30,000 trophy.
Medina handily won the 2021 title with two wins at Narrabeen and Rottnest, and three second-place finishes at Pipeline, Newcastle, and Kelly Slater’s California Surf Ranch. The 2021 tour was shortened to seven events after the 2020 tour was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
