Gabriel Medina opened the first-ever World Surf League Championship Tour event at Raglan with the kind of clinic his rivals will be replaying for the rest of the season.
The Brazilian, who arrived in New Zealand atop the ratings, rode upwards of 12 waves through his Round 1 heat at Manu Bay and posted scores of 7.67 and 7.53 to take down Hawaii's Eli Hanneman in a comfortable opening heat win. He is currently the form goofy-footer on tour, and Raglan's long, left-hand wall — the kind of wave most regular-footers must work to figure out — has handed him an immediate advantage.
"We don't really need to say he's back — it's stating the obvious," WSL commentator Richie Lovett said in the broadcast. "You look at the colour of the jersey that the man has on at the moment. He's top of the ratings right now and he is in career-best form. Just taking apart these waves. He stayed so busy. I think he rode upwards of 12 waves and each one of them just a clinic of how to front-side ride this wave."
The Corona Cero New Zealand Pro presented by Bonsoy is the tour's first appearance in New Zealand and the first championship-level event held at Raglan's Manu Bay, a left-hand point that has been an iconic free-surfing destination since the 1960s.
The morning swell delivered the kind of conditions the WSL had hoped for when it added the event to the calendar. Medina worked the inside section for variety and used the slope of the wave for power turns rather than waiting for the rare cleaner sections to barrel.
"He kind of owned this heat from start to finish," Lovett added. "Just super confident, lots of power, gave us all the variety, ticked all the boxes. The judges were happy. He just felt like he served such a smart heat."
Commentator Tru Stilling pointed to Medina's reception with locals as another sign of his standing within the surfing community.
"He's one of those surfers that you really respect out in the water, but how can you not respect this on land as well?" she said. "He stayed there for another 30 to 40 minutes with all the local grommets signing T-shirts and hats and anything else."
Hanneman fought back at the close of the heat and ultimately broke out of the Round 2 elimination round later in the day. Day 1 also saw advancement from a handful of New Zealand and Australian regional surfers, with the field benefiting from a wave that even tour veterans described as a 'reset' for the season.
"This place forced everyone to be a rookie again," commentator Jessi Stilling noted. "It evened out the playing field a little bit more."
With Medina top of the ratings and now top of the early heat scores at Raglan, the rest of the tour has been put on immediate notice. The Brazilian has not lost a heat at a left-hand point this season, and Manu Bay looks unlikely to change that pattern.
