Bede Durbidge scored a 9.73 in his Round Three heat against Gabriel Medina at the Tahiti Pro, it was the second-highest ride of the day (Jeremy Flores scored a 9.77 in Round Two). It was an almost impossible tube, full of falling foam, chunks of seaweed, and folding sections. But it was still not enough to defeat Medina, who punched through a desperate, last-minute barrel of his own in the heat's dying seconds. It was a fitting swan song for the soon-to-be retired Aussie, who announced that he'll be retiring at the end of the 2017 CT season after 13 years on Tour. In 2018, Durbidge will step into a new coaching role for Australia's national surf team training program leading up to surfing's first-ever appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
