John John Florence well set to claim Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title
Hawaii’s John John Florence will be resuming his campaign for one of the most prestigious honours in men’s surfing, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title, with the Billabong Pipe Masters at Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on December 8.
Currently enjoying a lead in the title race, the 19-year-old Florence enjoys the advantage of holding local knowledge of the waves, along with the support of the crowd, who would definitely be cheering for the young sensation.
Florence would be facing the best surfers from all around the world during the final battle that will be taking place in his home break. The line-up includes the elite Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) surfers, which include the likes of America’s
legendary Kelly Slater, South Africa’s Jordy Smith, Australia’s Taj Burrow and Owen Wright.
While the majority of them would be competing in the event to improve their position in the ASP World Tour rankings or simply savour the opportunity to surf at one of the best breaks in the world, others like Florence and Burrow has much more to chase during
the event.
Florence may have been in an exceptional form during the first two stops of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, but he surely has a high mountain to climb in order to get a good result at Pipeline. The outstanding victory at the recently concluded Vans World
Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach last week would have surely given him a real confidence boost, but it’s still too early to say whether it would be enough to carry him all the way through.
Talking about the final stop of the Vans World Cup of Surfing series, Florence said, “It should be fun, we haven’t really had a Pipe swell this year and it’s looking like this will be the first real swell, so no one has had the chance to surf it yet. There’s
definitely pressure. I live there and surf there every day and I don’t want to lose first heat. I want to have fun out there surfing with only three other guys in the water, it’s amazing.”
The young Hawaiian prodigy is sitting in first place on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing with 9780 points, though Australia’s Adam Melling is breathing right down his neck with 9650 points. Tahiti’s Michel Bourez cannot be written off yet either as he sits
in third place with 8480 points.
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