Without competing professionally on the WSL (World Surf League) Championship Tour since the end of 2024, Gabriel Medina, 32, four-time world champion, says he is prepared for his return.
After suffering a shoulder injury and undergoing surgery in January 2025, the São Paulo surfer calmly states: “I feel 100% ready to return to the circuit again.”
It took six months of rehabilitation and the rest of preparation, training and rest, the athlete told journalists on Saturday (28), from Bells Beach, Australia. The beach will host the first stage of the new season of the Championship Tour, an elite tournament on the professional circuit, starting this Monday (30), local time.
Now, with “butterflies in his stomach, but calm”, Medina reflects on the period away and says he never considered not returning to the sport. “Every day, every day, I want to surf, I want to be active. Actually, what makes more sense [para mim] It’s the competition, it’s what gives me pleasure. It’s what moves me.”
With an eye on good results in this new phase, the bronze medalist surfer at the Paris-24 Olympic Games announced, last week, Adriano de Souza, aka Mineirinho, as his new coach. “I grew up surfing watching Mineiro. For my generation, he was the guy who went head to head with the foreigners on the world circuit”, says Medina.
Communication between the two is one of the most important points of the new partnership: “He’s a guy who understands me”, explains Medina, who was previously coached by Australian Andy King. “Speaking my language, especially someone like Mineiro, who was once world champion [em 2015] and has been through several situations, communication flows more.”
While the São Paulo native was recovering from his injury, a man from Paraná climbed to the highest position on the podium at the Championsip Tour: Yago Dora, 29, from Curitiba, who became world champion in the waters of Fiji last year.
Returning to compete as the candidate to be defeated could put a new kind of pressure on an athlete, but that’s not how Dora approaches the challenge. “There is definitely a greater external expectation regarding my performance this year. But inside I feel lighter.”
“I know the responsibility I have to have a great season back, but at the same time it’s a weight off my shoulders, having won the title. I think it really showed me the path I have to follow, if I want to win more titles. I’m very excited.”
“I really wanted to not let myself get complacent after winning the title. I want to continue evolving, that’s what I’ve always done on the world circuit and, regardless of the result itself at the end of this season, I want to deliver even more than I did last season”, said the champion.
NEW RULES
In its 50th year, the WSL Championship Tour returns in 2026 with a new format. There will be 12 stages, 9 in the season, 2 in the post-season and 1 final.
In the first nine and the final, 36 surfers will participate in the men’s circuit and 24 in the women’s, while the other two stages will only have the 24 men and 16 women best placed in the season.
The final, Pipe Masters, held in Oahu, Hawaii, will be worth 15,000 points to the winner, 50% more than the other stages, and the circuit will now operate on a straight points basis.
“The Final Five was a cool experience, but nothing went wrong until today, right?” says Medina. “But there could be a risk of getting there on the day and someone is sick, not 100%, and then one day it defines what you did for the year, I don’t think it would be so fair.”
“We have to go full steam ahead from the first round”, says Dora, who also approved the news.
The organization of the keys for each stage also underwent changes. There are no more repechages, and every heat is worth a place in the next phase. The first round is contested only by the lowest ranking surfers.
Dora kicks off the season in Bells Beach in the second round, against the winner of the meeting between fellow Brazilian Mateus Herdy and Australian Liam O’Brien. Medina, who participates as a “season wild card”, faces Mexican Alan Cleland, also directly in the second round.
In total, ten Brazilians will participate in the elite tournament in 2026, 9 men and 1 woman. In addition to Dora and Medina, Italo Ferreira, Filipe Toledo, Miguel Pupo, João Chianca, Alejo Muniz, Samuel Pupo and Mateus Herdy are competing. Luana Silva represents the country in the women’s circuit.
