Gabriel Medina now has a singular focus: the comeback. Photo: Beatriz Ryder//World Surf League
Gabriel Medina’s withdrawal from the 2025 season (thus far) came more than four months ago now and with no timetable for a return. It was part of a series of big blows for the World Surf League. The League lost one of its biggest names on the men’s Championship Tour with it being Kelly Slater’s first full year out of competition. And then John John Florence announced his own sabbatical from competitive surfing just over a week later.
Medina’s January injury was linked to a session in Brazil just before the 2025 season was set to kick off — a tear of his left pectoral muscle. He underwent surgery just two days later. Recovery for an injury like that can range, but with surgery it’s common for patients to need four to six months before they can return to regular activity. A new video shared by Medina over the weekend shows the three-time world champ back in the water at Beyond the Club, Sao Paulo, a wave pool Medina invested in earlier this year.
“Very happy to be back surfing in my pool, with my friends and in São Paulo,” he wrote.
He doesn’t seem to be taking a casual rehab stroll in the pool, either. He mixes in a few airs and at one point he even throws a nod to his iconic viral pose at Teahupo’o in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
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So, is he back back?
Ian Gentil was given the WSL Replacement nod back in January and has been competing in Medina’s place ever since. But there’s no real motivation for Medina to rush back. The league granted him the WSL injury wildcard for 2026 and gave Florence a wildcard for the upcoming season as well. If anything, the only pressure is on Gentil and Alan Cleland (who was given Florence’s vacant spot) to climb above the cut line at Margaret River this coming week. Gentil has failed to make it out of the Round of 32 this season and ranks 30th. Cleland has been knocking on the door of a few runs to the quarterfinals and is in a three-way tie right at the mid-season cut line. But regardless of what happens to them, Medina has a spot waiting for him when next year’s CT roster is set. Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Medina throw his name out there for an event wildcard toward the end of the season just to get a few heats under his belt in 2025 and warm himself back up to competition before next year.
