Did you feel it?

Because today at around 11:30 Hawaiian Time, John Florence initiated a sonic reverberation of which reset the global surf hiearchy and, in our humble opinion, regained him the unofficial title of “best surfer in the world.”

After bashing his way through the meat of the Haleiwa Challenger comp, John saved his best for last in the final with a two turn, barrel, and an air that had 4 out of 5 judges giving it a 10. 

What was that one guy thinking?

With a 7.7 something already in the bag, he had the entire field combo’d with like 15 minutes left. He put it to bed with an 8.03 late. His throwaway 7.7 being equal with the highest score from all other finalist.

Jack fell asleep for the first 15 minutes but woke up in time to save second place with a legit 15.03 to keep it interesting.

Kanoa gave it a go with a sick ally oop/kerrupt grab on what was unfortunatly a one maneuver wave, but never really threatened despite a super aggressive approach to some Hawaiian size.

Sam Pupo couldn’t regain his semi-final form, which was insane by the way.

John was simply on another level.

It’s easy to say “oh it’s only a Challenger event” except that all four finalist are CT qualified in 2022, with plenty of others sprinkled into the event.

And remember, this comp was in 6-10 foot Haleiwa for most of the event. There’s just not many out there are matching what John is doing in this size of surf.

With Pipe up first up in 2022, followed by Sunset and the remaining schedule which is lends itself to John’s strengths, you heard it here first: John Florence will be world champ in 2022.

What Youth