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The Pipeline Top 10: John John Florence Finally Becomes A Pipe Champion
Ben Collins
As the start of the 2022 Championship Tour season gets set to kick off with the Billabong Pro Pipeline, we're counting down the most memorable championship moments from the past 10 years.
How does a two-time World Champion, a surfer who grew up in front of Pipeline and is widely considered the best Pipe surfer of his generation, not have a Championship Tour victory there?
It was a question many fans had pondered, before John John Florence finally made things right in 2020 at the Billabong Pipe Masters.
Florence had long been considered the best out there -- that's why it was such a glaring omission from his long list of achievements.
He'd come close to victory at Pipeline, with two runner-up finishes, but after competing at nearly every CT event at Pipe since 2008, it was an itch that really needed to be scratched. It felt borderline indecent that this particular box had yet to be ticked.
"It feels so good to win," said Florence after taking down Gabriel Medina in the Final. "Especially from that heat, that was a really hard heat. I'm stoked to win against Gabe … I feel like competing against him is why I want to compete."
"Winning the Pipe Masters has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. I've grown up watching this event. I've made a couple of finals and never quite got it. I'm super stoked. I don't know what else to say."
Winning at Pipe is a dream of many Championship Tour surfers, though none have been built to achieve the honor quite like Florence. A prodigy who has been a household name since he was a child, Florence grew up in front of Pipeline and spent almost every waking moment surfing the North Shore of Oahu.
While many surfers need to become comfortable at Pipeline later in life, Florence was right at home out there while he was still in elementary school. Watching this small child with a shock of blond hair toying with the world's most infamous wave became a regular image from every Pipeline swell.
In every other way, Florence had more than lived up to the hype that been placed on his shoulders by the surfing industry, with Triple Crown wins and World Titles, but Pipeline was always the event he was born to win.
If time out at the wave -- to the point of sheer mastery -- is a measure of preparation, almost no one else deserved this more than him.
Read More:
The waiting period for the Billabong Pro Pipeline gets underway on January 29. Keep it locked right here at WorldSurfLeague.com for the latest news and info as we countdown the start of the 2022 Championship Tour.
Gabriel Medina
Featuring John John Florence, Jack Robinson, Kolohe Andino, Filipe Toledo, Stephanie Gilmore, Ryan Callinan, Jeremy Flores, Italo Ferreira,
Featuring Callum Robson, Griffin Colapinto, Adriano de Souza, Italo Ferreira, Gabriel Medina, João Chianca, Carissa Moore, Leonardo
Take a look back at the ultimate highlight package from Gabriel Medina, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Filipe Toledo, Italo Ferreira, and Yago Dora
Relive 3x World Champ Gabriel Medina's dominance at Pipeline as we gear up for the Lexus Pipe Pro presented by Yeti from January 29th -
Featuring Gabriel Medina, John John Florence, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Molly Picklum, Barron Mamiya, Caitlin Simmers, Caroline Marks, Ethan
Billabong Pipe Masters presented by Hydro Flask
Check every 9 since 2018 as we gear up for a return to the North Shore at the Lexus Pipe Pro presented by Yeti. Featuring Kelly Slater,
A monumental breakthrough victory for John John Florence at his home break for the 50th Anniversary of the Billabong Pipe Masters.
Australian surfers who had been scoring waves on the North Shore have been arriving home to begin two weeks in quarantine.
The World Champ's new edit shows him preparing to surf in the Billabong Pipe Masters presented by Hydro Flask.
John John Florence recently won a long-awaited and well-deserved Pipe Masters victory.