After getting out of the water, Gabriel Medina made clear that today he finally achieved his career-long dream of becoming a three-time world champion.

Speaking live on the WSL broadcast, she said: “I feel so happy. It’s not every day you get to fulfil your dream. It feels good to dream and all dreams seem impossible until they are achieved; it’s a special day for me, I had this dream for a long time. All the glory goes to the man up there and working hard. There’s no other way, work hard and be patient and let surfing do the talking.”

“This day will go down in history and I will tell my son that I had to surf a lot to win this title. Mentally it was a challenge. Because when you get to a point where you have so much distance, I thought that I should have already won. But it is what it is. If I had to surf more, I was going to surf more,” he added.

The interview was interrupted by Filipe Toledo going to give him a hug and they exchanged several words during the broadcast. Kaipo Guerrero of the WSL then asked him what they had talked about and Medina stressed that they are rivals in the water but that he respects them all a lot.

Finally, Medina emphasized how much he grew this year, in clear reference to his distancing from his stepfather, Charlao, who was his lifelong coach, his marriage and his new life traveling the world with his wife.

He took the opportunity to dedicate the title to her.