• Kelly Slater Wins Third Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Title
• Gabriel Medina Runner-Up for World Title and Billabong Pipe Masters

Ferreira opened the final heat of the season in the first fifteen seconds with inside position and earned the best single-wave score of the Final, a 7.83 (out of a possible 10), for a rare Backdoor barrel on his backhand. He never gave up the lead and put pressure on Medina from start to finish and ultimately ended with a 15.56 scoreline to Medina’s 12.94. Conditions progressed throughout the day to deliver proper Pipeline barrels that pushed twelve-foot faces for the Brasilian showdown.

“I just want to thank everyone for cheering for us,” said Medina. “It’s been a fun week and that wave was a really fun one, maybe it was the heat we got a lot of waves. Against John, it’s even more special because he’s one of the best surfers in the world and I love to compete against him. I just feel really good surfing these waves. I just want to thank all the locals for letting us surf this wave because it’s one of my favorites that I surf. I’m proud of myself and now looking forward to the next one.”

En route to his second-place finish, Medina also eliminated Caio Ibelli (BRA) in dramatic fashion with an interference to top off his win in Heat 5, R/16. This heat was a rematch of the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Quarterfinals where Medina earned an interference penalty against Ibelli. Ibelli exits with a 9th place result, matching his personal best at the Billabong Pipe Masters.

“Just playing the game,” said Medina. “It was my priority, I knew if I had an interference that I was going to count my big wave. There was like 20 seconds left so it’s all good. I wasn’t sure [if Caio would have gotten the score], that’s why I went. He needed a 5, but it was really hard out there. I just had to play the game. Sometimes if it’s in the rules, you gotta play the game.”

“I’ve been planning this attack for 21 years [laughing],” said Slater. “The first two (Vans Triple Crown titles) that I won I really wasn’t even thinking about them because I was so focused on trying to win a World Title and focused on Pipeline at the time. I’m just stoked, I had a really fun finish to the year for me. I just want to say thanks to everyone, it’s been a super fun year and damn I wanted that thing today. If I got here this year and only caught that wave (the perfect 10-point ride during R/32 Heat 8) it would have been a success, so I’m stoked.”

The Vans Triple Crown is in its 37th year of crowning the best surfer of the North Shore competitive season and is the world’s longest-running annual heritage surf series. Culture-defining, the Vans Triple Crown is a highly-coveted title and legendary surfers the likes of Sunny Garcia (HAW), Michael and Derek Ho (HAW), Andy Irons (HAW) and Joel Parkinson (AUS) have had benchmark career moments from their victories here in Hawaii. Vans, partner and community centerpiece, has continued to advocate for world-class competition in parallel with North Shore activations and a robust sustainability program to help build a community-first mindset. While the Vans Triple Crown officially culminates with the finish of the Billabong Pipe Masters, it begins at the Vans Pro Men’s QS 3,000 with local qualification spots, a true testament to Vans’ commitment to the North Shore.

Only ten non-Hawaii athletes have claimed the Vans Triple Crown title in the past 37 years, two coming from the USA (Slater and Griffin Colapinto). The 11-time World Champion leaves today with a beloved trophy carved out of a broken surfboard by sustainable artist Ruben Aira.

John John Florence (USA) and Julian Wilson (AUS) have provisionally qualified through the WSL CT to represent the USA and Australia, respectively, at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“This is an incredible opportunity and it’s very surreal,” said Wilson. “I had a month off after Portugal and I trained my butt off to earn this spot on the Australian team. It’s a chicken-skin moment to know that I’m going to go to the Olympics and represent my country and I’m proud of myself.”

The ten provisional qualifiers are:
USA – Kolohe Andino and John John Florence
Australia – Owen Wright and Julian Wilson
Brasil – Italo Ferreira and Gabriel Medina
France – Jeremy Flores and Michel Bourez
South Africa – Jordy Smith
Japan – Kanoa Igarashi

Billabong Pipe Masters Round of 16 Results:
HEAT 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 11.84 DEF. Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 4.23
HEAT 2: Yago Dora (BRA) 7.50 DEF. Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.27
HEAT 3: Jack Freestone (AUS) 5.00 DEF. Ricardo Christie (NZL) 4.23
HEAT 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 7.33 DEF. Seth Moniz (HAW) 6.20
HEAT 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 4.23 DEF. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 1.13
HEAT 6: John John Florence (HAW) 5.66 DEF. Soli Bailey (AUS) 3.90
HEAT 7: Griffin Colapinto (USA) 10.67 DEF. Jesse Mendes (BRA) 8.50
HEAT 8: Michel Bourez (FRA) 13.43 DEF. Kolohe Andino (USA) 9.50

Men’s 2019 WSL CT Jeep Leaderboard (after Billabong Pipe Masters):
1 – Italo Ferreira (BRA) 59,740 pts
2 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 56,475 pts
3 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 49,985 pts
4 – Filipe Toledo (BRA) 49,145 pts
5 – Kolohe Andino (USA) 46,655 pts

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Top 5:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 13,900 pts
2 – Ethan Ewing (AUS) 13,750 pts
3 – Michel Bourez (FRA) 12,700 pts
4 – Ezekiel Lau (HAW) 12,600 pts
5 – Frederico Morais (PRT) 12,200 pts

Italo Ferreira’s 2019 WSL CT Results:
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast – 1st
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach – 5th
Corona Bali Protected – 17th
Margaret River Pro – 5th
Oi Rio Pro – 17th
Corona Open J-Bay – 2nd
Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o – 17th
Freshwater Pro – 9th
Quiksilver Pro France – 2nd
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal – 1st
Billabong Pipe Masters – 1st

Italo Ferreira’s CT Career Rankings:
2019 – 1st
2018 – 4th
2017 – 22nd
2016 – 15th
2015 – 7th