Surfing-Medina, Florence set to resume rivalry on 2026 tour

Brazil's Gabriel Medina and Hawaiian John John Florence will rekindle surfing's biggest rivalry next year, with confirmation that the former champions will be returning to the 2026 world tour after a year off.

Medina, 31, missed this year's tour with a pectoral injury, while the 33-year-old Florence opted to take time off after winning the 2024 championship. Both have been granted season wildcards by the World Surf League.

Florence and Medina joined the world tour together in 2012, having already established themselves as future stars by the time they were teenagers. Both set new levels of performance on all kinds of waves around the globe and went on to claim three world titles apiece.

Medina, who won bronze at the Paris Olympics, spent his season off jet-setting around the globe, opening wave pools and hanging out with football stars in Brazil where he is a national hero after winning the country its first surfing world title. 

Florence, who enjoys growing vegetables and beekeeping, spent most of his time sailing around the isolated South Pacific on his yacht with his young family. 

"I really appreciate the WSL extending me this wildcard," said Florence, who grew up on the beach at Hawaii's notorious Pipeline.

"Having the time to explore and surf new waves with my family at this point in our life has been a dream for us."

The return of Florence and Medina on the men's tour mirrors the comebacks on the women's tour, where Australia's eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore and Hawaii's Olympic gold medallist Carissa Moore are returning.

The tour, which has scrapped its controversial one-day, winner-takes-all finale, kicks off at Australia's Bells Beach in April and culminates at Pipeline in December.