John Florence, Pipeline gold digger, Hawaii

But, more John? You’ll find no apologies here. Yesterday, Mr Florence won his third consecutive Volcom Pipe Pro. “It was definitely a special final for me, my third time in a row, I can’t even believe it,” he said. “I was just happy to make it through today really, because the waves were small but still really good. Surfing the four man heats in small, peaky conditions like that is really tough and it’s quite a battle to even get a wave. I’m glad I snuck some in.” And, at 20 years old, how do you aggressively (but respectfully) challenge men 15 years older than you? “That quarter final heat was a scary one,” John continued. “So many of the guys that I really respect and have watched since I was so little. I knew I was going to have to go out there and paddle battle because it’s small. But I don’t want to paddle battle the guys I’ve been looking up to since I was little, so I kind of just went out and did what I could to sneak in a couple waves.” John won all but one heat on his way to the final, and in his round of 64 heat clocked a 9.30, 9.53, 9.73, and 9.97 consecutively. This was one of those waves. Reckon this year’s gonna be good for dear John? “I just hope it’s as good as last year. Last year was the best year of my life.”