Gabriel Medina became the first Brazilian to ever win the Quiksilver Pro as he saw off local favourite, Joel Parkinson, to win on the Gold Coast, Australia.

It was a narrow win for Medina as he edged out Joel Parkinson, scoring 16.33 to his opponents 16.27. Despite having never had a winner at Snapper Rocks the Brazilians enjoyed an impressive showing at the first stop of the Men’s ASP Word Tour; they had been duking it out with the Australians throughout the event with both Medina and Parkinson having defeated two of the other’s compatriots on the way to the final showdown.

In the match-up that mattered Medina came out on top and he was not only the first Brazilian but only the second Goofy footer to win on the Gold Coast and the first for a decade. Parkinson started strongly quickly laying down a 9 point ride to put the pressure on Medina early. He followed it up with further 7.27 point wave to lead early in the final despite snapping his board in two in between.

Medina, who’d seen off Mick Fanning and Taj Burrows earlier in the day was left scrabbling round for a way back into the final but his patience paid off in the end. Having trailed for almost all of the final he pounced in the last 10 minutes with two strong waves of 8.5 and 7.83 to leave the 2012 World Champion reeling and unable to respond.

It is the biggest win in the young Brazilian’s career and he was delighted, saying afterwards: “It’s unbelievable. To beat Parko at Snapper, it’s the best day of my life.” For the third round in succession he’d left it late but come out on top having waited till the dying seconds to claim the scalps of Australian surfing heavyweights, Mick Fanning and Taj Burrows. Parkinson was beaten in the final for the second consecutive year, having lost to Kelly Slater in 2013. He was magnanimous though and recognised the talent of his 20 year old opponent: “He’s such a good surfer, he could’ve needed a nine and still got it. The future of surfing is in good hands.”