John Florence, feeling the rush, Rio

“This is the best feeling in the world,” said Hawaiian John Florence after winning the Billabong Pro, Rio this morning. “I had that bad heat at Arpoador to start and we had a couple of lay days and I had to just sit and think about it. I can’t even believe this right now. I’m in shock. I was just sticking to my game plan and not thinking about the other guys. I’m so happy right now.”

After throwing down a backside full rote on his first scoring wave and a barrel-to-club sandwich on his second, John had Joel Parkinson combo’d – a position he would recover from. The pair hugged before the final buzzer and John took the ski in, where Shaun Ward and Freddy Patacchia were waiting with a Hawaiian flag. After being chaired up the beach, John stopped for a breathless and bewildered chat with GT (right there in the purple shirt), which is when the shot y’see here was snapped.

“This helps my confidence so much,” John said. “I have a lot of confidence going into events with barreling waves like Pipe. Obviously I have a lot of confidence in barrels from my experience at Pipe, but coming here, I wasn’t expecting a big result. I was just hoping to make a few heats.” Johnny now sits at No. 6 on the ASP WCT.