Hawaii’s John John Florence captures third world title with an incredible ride

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The coronation is complete for John John Florence. The Oahu native put on a show Friday in the World Surf League finals to capture the third title of his career.

The victory caps off what’s already been such a banner year for the superstar from Haleiwa, and Friday’s final was a best of three-heat showdown.

He managed to win the first heat in the final seconds and only caught two waves.

Then, in the start of the second frame: pure magic.

Florence, not wasting any time, strung together an incredible ride for a score of 9.7 — the highest single score in WSL finals history.

Credit to Brazil’s Italo Ferreira who fought his way from the five-seed to the final round, but John John was on a mission, going on to win the final by a score of 18.1.

This is Florence’s third world championship of his career and his first since 2017.

“My family, my wife, my son, my team, everyone, I couldn’t have done it without them. The injuries, the down days, so much going into these last few years to get to this point. I cant believe it,” Florence said.

The world-renowned surfer is also the first Hawaii surfer to win three world titles since Andy Irons ripped off three straight in the early 2000s.

And now, Florence gets to enjoy some much needed down time after a busy year that also saw him compete in the Olympics — and become a father.

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