Whether you found time in your early holiday schedule to watch the final Challenger Series event of the year or not, let me provide the biggest highlight: John John Florence looked dominant in a contest jersey again. It’s tough not to hold your breath when the North Shore native takes to competition. He surfs with such surf-video like aplomb, and with so little regard for his own body, that at this point in his career an injury seems imminent.
But he threw caution to the wind in his first contest back, landing a couple of crucial airs, displaying his signature layback snaps and gorgeous carves, all while taking down his second straight Challenger Series event at Haleiwa. And this with having absolutely nothing to surf for other than to recalibrate his competitive mentality.
Of course there was a whole lot on the line for the rest of the field. Championship Tour careers were jumpstarted, continued, and even discontinued yesterday. Some highlight re-qualifications on the men’s side: Ryan Callinan, Maxime Huscenot, Ramzi Boukhiam, Ian Gentil, Michael Rodrigues, Joao Chianca, Liam O’Brien, and Ezekial Lau all solidified their 2023 CT season on the sands of Haleiwa this week. Leo Fioravanti and Rio Waida had already sealed up their qualifications.
On the women’s side, Sophie McCulloch nabbed a big-time win to qualify for the Championship Tour for the first time. She was a longshot heading in. Bettylou Sakura Johnson also secured her spot back on tour after a nail-biting run on the Challenger Series that saw her hold off a number of other hungry young upstarts. She and McCulloch join Caity Simmers, Molly Picklum, and Macy Callaghan as newly qualified (or re-qualified) surfers.
The format wasn’t ideal with four surfers in each final. But the waves certainly cooperated on the North Shore’s premier performance stage.
