John John is dialed in. Photo: Screenshot
Love’em or hate ’em, the WSL Finals will draw eyeballs once again this fall. Lowers is wildly dependable every September, not because it’s ever going to churn out anything of consequence, but because it remains the most rippable wave on the planet. And for the first time ever fans will get to see John John Florence compete for a world title in the new-ish format there.
While Florence is most revered for his prowess in the world’s heaviest waves, he has no holes in his game. He’s still one of the most progressive, consistent, creative, and powerful surfers on the planet in smaller waves like the Southern California point. And considering he has the yellow jersey all but locked up for those WSL Finals with just one more event to go, you can consider Florence a heavy favorite to win his third world title.
If the rankings hold through Fiji as they are today, hometown favorite Griffin Colapinto will need just one heat win to face Florence in the best of three matchup for a title. And although Florence has fans in every corner of the planet, Griff is likely the one person who would draw a massive wave of hometown support (and maybe a Matthew McConaughey hype video to boot).
But the yellow jersey has been perfect on the men’s side through the first few years of the WSL Finals format and it’s tough to imagine Florence as the first person to allow a blemish on that record. In all six WSL Finals best-of-three heats in the men’s bracket, the top-ranked surfer has won out, posting at least one excellent heat score in every single matchup. Filipe Toledo has surfed in all of those heats, going 4-0 from the pole position in ’22 and ’23 (beating Italo 2-0 and Ethan Ewing 2-0 respectively) and losing to Gabriel Medina 0-2 in the ’21 WSL Finals.
With all that in mind, here’s John John Florence making Lowers look like the Banzai Skate Park across the street from his North Shore home.
