Medina's Success Provides New Momentum for Brazilian Surfing

12/24/2014 - 08h00

Riding on the success of world champion surfer Gabriel Medina, Brazil's most successful national surfing championship is due to return in 2015.

Super Surf, which ran from 2000 and 2009, is due to be confirmed shortly, with four stages between April and November.

The events are likely to be held at Maresias or Ubatuba in São Paulo, in Rio and Saquarema in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and at Florianópolis in Santa Catarina. It is being organized by the Brazilian Association of Professional Surfing (Abrasp) in partnership with the businessman Evandro Abreu.

Abreu was a product manager at the publisher Abril, when the company organized the competition. After leaving Abril, he decided to take on the brand Super Surf for a trial period of two years (2015 and 2016).

Abreu had already been planning the competition's return, and the "Medina wave" has helped generate momentum for the project.

After the end of Super Surf in 2009, the national championship became Brasil Surf, for two years, and then Brasil Tour, for another three.

However, in 2014, the Brazilian champion was determined by the total points accumulated in state competitions.

The winner was Ítalo Ferreira, 20, from Rio Grande do Norte, who will compete with the world's best surfers in 2015 alongside six other Brazilians.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE