When time ran out in the Vans World Cup of Surfing final on Tuesday, there was no winner.

Yet.

That’s because the judges at Sunset Beach had to tabulate two fantastic rides to see which of the four surfers squeezed out a victory to earn the $40,000 first-place check.

A few minutes later, the results were announced, and Adam Melling’s long day of hard work came to a fitting end. The Australian surfer carved up four turns on his final ride to score a 9.33 to go from fourth to first and clinch the victory with his two-wave total of 16.16.

But it was extremely close. Gabriel Medina, the up-and-coming 18-year-old from Brazil, muscled into a beautiful and hollow backside barrel. He grabbed his rail and positioned his other hand on the face of the wave to pace his tube time. He sped out, added a roundhouse turn and claimed it by waving toward the fans. The judges, however, scored it an 8.17, leaving him 0.49 behind at 15.67.

Kauai’s Sebastien Zietz led most of the way in the 6- to 8-foot glassy surf, but watched as both Melling and Medina climbed over his 13.70.

"When I saw Gabriel come out of the pit, I was like, ‘What?!’ Melling said. "I figured I probably jumped over Seabass (Zietz), but I thought it was possible that Gabe took the lead."

There was a lot more on the line for Melling than the event title. He needed to finish first or second to qualify for next year’s ASP World Tour, and he scrambled through five rounds in two days, including four Tuesday, to win the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown.

"It’s rare to get such a long wall at Sunset, where it pushes all the way through," Melling said about his winning wave. "It stood up nicely and I had some nice, big turns and I even made it into a nice inside section."

Medina was a bit disappointed with second place, but still had a huge smile on his face.

"I saw that barrel, I pulled in and I came out and I felt good (about my chances)," Medina said. "It was a good result and a fun final against those guys. I thought maybe I would have gotten the score to put me in the lead, but that’s why we have judges. It’s all good."

Zietz, who won the Triple Crown’s first event, the Reef Hawaiian Pro in Haleiwa, has a big lead in the Triple Crown standings with the Billabong Pipe Masters remaining. He has 10,950 points. Brazil’s Alejo Muniz and Melling (7,200) are tied for second, followed by Hawaii’s John John Florence and Medina (6,500), who are tied for fourth. Florence is the defending Triple Crown champion. Hawaii’s Fred Patacchia (seventh) and Sunny Garcia (ninth) are very much in the chase. The Triple Crown winner will earn an extra $100,000.

"Two (victories) in a row would have been too much, too fast for me," Zietz said. "Before (the Reef Hawaiian Pro), people in the surfing world barely knew who I was. I didn’t play it right today. I had two medium scores and was on the defensive. I don’t usually like to surf that way, but I got caught up thinking about the whole winning two Triple Crown events in a row thing."

Only two surfers in Triple Crown history have won back-to-back event titles — Gary Elkerton in 1987 and Andy Irons in 2006.

Australia’s Adrian Buchan finished in fourth on Tuesday with a 13.26. He powered into three carving turns for a 7.13 to pass over Melling into third place just before the final two huge rides by Melling and Medina.

The holding period for the Pipe Masters starts Saturday and runs through Dec. 20.

That event will decide the World Tour champion. Either Australian Joel Parkinson, 11-time champ Kelly Slater or Australian Mick Fanning will take home the title.