How Mick Fanning Won The 2013 World Title

And, that’s it. Mick Fanning is officially the 2013 ASP World Champion.

What moment does it come down to? Did it begin with his good pal, Joel Parkinson, winning the world title last year and reigniting something within Mick? Would it still have happened if Mick had lost a heat earlier in Bells, Tahiti, Portugal, or elsewhere? Does it come down to Mick having the foresight to drop in on John John Florence in round four, thereby putting himself against CJ Hobgood and Yadin Nicol, rather than Julian Wilson and, more importantly, John John Florence again? Or, in the first heat of the final morning, with one minute and thirty-five seconds remaining and trailing CJ Hobgood, when Mick rolled into, casually bottom turned under, and burned through the heat’s most perfect wave for a 9.50?

Or most importantly, against Yadin Nicol, in the final seconds of his quarterfinal, when Mick needed a 9.57 he drove through a clean barrel to scoop 9.70 points and win the world title.

It isn’t just one of these things, but all of them, and a whole lot more. And now, Mick Fanning is a World Champion for the third time, and Kelly Slater is not a world champion for the twelfth time.

“The world title is something that takes a whole year, but sometimes it can feel like it boils down to the final day and the final heats,” said Mick. “I’m sure I gave my wife Karissa and my mum enough stress today to last a lifetime. I was never worried myself now that I think of it. I knew what I needed to do and if the opportunity came, I knew I could do it. That opportunity came in both heats today. It’s an incredible feeling. I’ve been having fun all year and to clinch on a day like this at Pipeline makes it that much more special.”

Kelly, obviously deflated, managed to maintain graciousness in defeat. “I’m excited for Mick – it was an exciting finish,” said the Floridian. “Mick has been focused all year. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly where my year didn’t stack up. I got hurt in Tahiti and probably should have rehabbed more before Trestles. I didn’t surf very well through Europe. A world title is a yearlong thing. It was a great year for surfing and I’m excited we get to wrap up in great waves at Pipeline.”

Above is a glance in the rearview mirror, at the most important moments that led to the big one.