Michel Bourez won with a torn hamstring and a perfect 10. Photo: 2025 Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy
Michel Bourez won the 2025 Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy, winning both the thruster event and the grand final back-to-back at Sultans. And the kicker? Turns out he tore his hamstring while surfing in the twin-fin portion of the world’s most luxurious surf contest.
“Fearing that his campaign was over,” wrote Chris Binns in a release to the press, “Bourez received a hefty dose of medical treatment overnight before adrenaline powered him through four heats in pumping waves on finals day.”
The last day of the event was a good one, to say the least. When the sun rose over the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa, competitors were greeted with the best waves of the window. Owen Wright, who won the twin-fin event the previous day, started off with a bang, pulling down a 7.50 on his opening wave. It wasn’t long before Bourez, torn hamstring and all, figured out that he could surf relatively pain free if he surfed with most of his weight on his back foot, allowing him to hammer those huge turns he does so well and ride the barrel.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to surf today,” Bourez said. “But I was always going to try. Before the first heat I figured out if I put all my weight on the back foot I could still surf, and I felt like I was in the zone after that.”
It was almost immediately apparent that Bourez’s leg would not be an issue. “An opening 5.5 showed that Bourez’s treetrunk leading leg was up to the challenge, although an early turn-to-fall had the gallery holding its breath,” Binns continued. “Next came a 6.67 for a deep, double-sectioned tube, the best of the event so far. Bourez and the waves were on. With time running out a bomb came straight to the Tahitian who, finally back on his beloved thrusters, belted it repeatedly, sending sheets of spray to the sky. Long regarded as one of the world’s most powerful surfers, Bourez looked imposing, as if his injury had forced his fury up a notch. The judges locked in an 8.5 to give the Tahitian the lead.”
Jesse Mendes, who was the third man in the heat, tried his best to eke out the scores needed to beat Wright and Bourez, but Bourez proved to be too much for either of them. Mendes, though, did manage to beat Craig Anderson in the first semifinal of the day. Although Anderson didn’t advance, he was more than happy to have been in the water.
“If all competitions were like this,” he laughed, “I might have stuck with them.”
Bourez’s power carve game was on full display in the thruster division final, and it was enough to vault him to the top of the podium.
“Bourez opened the thruster final with another rail-infused effort for a 7.83, before Mendes replied with a surgically smooth 7.17, then settled into the best seat in the house as Michel tore into the wave behind,” the press release read. “If you’d forgotten about Bourez’s love of critical turns, then a massive carve into a big vertical blast were a stark reminder. An 8.67 extended his lead and had the crowd questioning Michel’s apparently-injured hamstring, while another 7.5, for another wrenched bucket-throw, was a mere throwaway.”
Mendes, who is married to Tatiana Weston-Webb, had priority, but the ocean went flat. A few wider sets rolled through un-ridden, and Mendes quickly ran out of time.
“Jesse had his chances but he was too deep,” Weston-Webb said. “I told him to sit wide, but I can only tell him so many times!”
The grand final was the third matchup of the week between Bourez and Wright. Bourez was surfing his fourth heat of the day, and his momentum was strong. They traded waves for much of the heat, but with just a few minutes to go the best wave of the event rolled in and Bourez was in position.
“The Tahitian’s eyes lit up,” Binns wrote. “He found his feet, pumped for speed, set his line, and threaded a deep blue drainer the length of the Sultans lineup, emerging with fists raised and a perfect 10 guaranteed for the best victory lap you’ll ever see.”
Bourez couldn’t believe his luck. “That was unbelievable,” he said. “It was the perfect wall that hit the perfect section of reef, and I was so happy to have it happen in my heat, at that time. I knew it was a 10 as soon as I came out.”
