Gabriela Bryan (HAW) and Miguel Pupo (BRA) won the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach Presented by Bonsoy, Stop No. 1 of the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT). Bryan and Pupo have etched their names into surfing folklore, winning one of surfing’s most prestigious events, each for the first time. The pair were top performers all week in an assortment of conditions, with the event eventually culminating in semi-clean four-to-five foot swell at Winkipop, some of the best waves seen over the event period.
"This morning I woke up and I was like, I want to be in yellow next event," Pupo said. "I've never been in yellow before, I want to experience that. I want to live that shoe, with everyone, all the Brazilians. Those guys inspire me, like Yago (Dora) and Gabe (Gabriel Medina). I'm 34, so now I have to not look up, but look down at them, as an example of hard work and self-belief. Thanks to my coach (Adriano de Souza). He was the one that was believing in me the whole event. I want to thank my wife, my mom, dad. My wife's at home with four kids, so she's doing the hard work, and I'm here just having fun. Thank you."
“You got to win it to ring it, and I get to ring it, and I’m so excited,” Bryan said. “This event has so much history, and some of my favourite surfers have won it, so it’s surreal to get to lift that Bell myself now. I am here with my mum, and I’m staying with Riss (Carissa Moore). I've just been having the best time down here, and the vibes have been high. Now I get to head to Western Australia for another event that I love, so let’s hope I can keep this going.”
In the Final, Bryan came up against reigning World Champion Molly Picklum (AUS), who was on the hunt for her first win at Bells. Bryan got an early start, taking the best waves of the first two sets to earn an early advantage, while Picklum struggled to find the waves she was looking for. Bryan then found a decent-sized wave under priority and smashed a huge carve into a fins-free closeout hit to post a 14.83 two-wave total and put Picklum into a combination situation. Picklum was never able to find a score to get back in the game, leaving Bryan to win her fifth CT event with her fifth straight head-to-head defeat of the Australian. Bryan now puts her name on the Bell, joining the likes of fellow Hawaiians Carissa Moore (HAW), Megan Abubo (HAW), Jeff Hakman (HAW), Sunny Garcia (HAW), Margo Oberg (HAW), Andy Irons (HAW) and John John Florence (HAW) as a winner of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.
“Molly (Picklum) is an incredible surfer and person,” Bryan continued. “We hung out in Kaua‘i in the off-season, and she just pushes us all so much, so it was cool to share a Final with her, and I’m stoked to get the win. It's an insane feeling, but I can never do it alone. There's so many people that help me and are part of my team. The best part is that winning feels really good for me, but it also is really good for everyone that supports you. It's been good celebrating my birthday here, and now I get to ring the Bell. One of my main goals this year is to have fun and just show the world some Gabby surfing and that's what I'm going to try to do for the rest of the year.”
