TEAM NEWS: MATEIA HIQUILY JOINS THE GONG TEAM

Team News
Surf

11 july 2024 0

Tahitian free surfer Mateia Hiquily now engages the rails of our shapes on the most beautiful Polynesian waves!

Retired from pro competition, Mateia, 28, has refocused on his family in Polynesia. A choice that makes sense considering the constraints of long trips from Tahiti, which he is lucky to call his home spot. It is therefore from what he considers to be the “most beautiful place in the world”, and we understand this, that he devotes himself to our common passion for waves and the ocean.

A passion that he exercises with enormous talent, as evidenced by his results at different levels of competition:

Winner of the ASP junior in Galicia at 17 and Junior European Vice-Champion
Winner the following year of both the Papara Pro Junior and the WQS.
Second place at the prestigious Australian Open (QS6000) in 2015.
Winner in 2018 of the ultra competitive Tahiti Pro trials opening the CT main event.

Surfing: Mateia, GONG team rider, on the Atomic EPS.

He now follows the competition from afar but still participates in the events he likes such as the unmissable Tahiti Pro trials where he narrowly missed qualifying with a second place against Mihimana Braye a few weeks back.

Freed from full-time competition, his quest is to surf the most beautiful waves and surpass himself, especially in big waves. Find the intensity of the competitions in a free session through maneuvers that are just as committed, even more. He also continues to explore new shapes and ways to surf such as surf foiling or downwinders to fully live his passion. A mission his new GONG quiver should not fail to allow him.

Maeva e manava!

Follow Mateia in our magazine and on @mateiahiquily