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, open

See Full Page