Meet The Most Dominant Man In (Regional QS) Surfing
John-Mark Tokong has 3 consecutive wins (and counting) at Cloud 9. Can anyone stop him?
Andy Irons won four Pipe events in five years. John Florence’s frontside carve is near synonymous with Margaret River. Kelly Slater has won five Teahupo’o events. And you can’t say ‘Huntington Beach US Open’ three times in the mirror without Brett Simpson showing up to ask who you’re voting for.
Yet, there has potentially never been a competitive surfing event more synonymous with a single surfer than the Cloud 9 Siargao International Surfing Cup.
In its seven iterations, the event held off the southeast corner of the Philippine archipelago has been won four times by local 28-year old John Mark Tokong. Dubbed ‘the King of Cloud 9,’ John Mark has put up the top four heat totals in the event’s history, including a 19.65 in 2015.
Skip McCullough is the only surfer to have ever defeated John Mark in a final at Cloud 9.
Over the past few days, the precipitous reef pass has turned a 5ft@11sec northeast swell into backless horseshoes for the eighth iteration of the event — yet another reminder that the Australia/Asia QS is maybe the best circuit in surfing. John Mark has continued his assertion, collecting a couple nines and planting himself firmly in the quartefinals, offering remarkably enjoyable viewing for those suffering from CT withdrawals.
Alongside John Mark, Sierra Kerr appears to be en route to her third QS victory of 2024, putting up a 9.20, an 8.83, launching enormous straight airs and packing throaty double ups to land herself in the R16.
The 17-year old is, however, in no rush to qualify.
“I’m definitely wanting to wait a little bit, like Caity did,” she told us, when she released her 2024 SEOTY entry. “I’m filming all this year to come out with another edit. I’m not trying to qualify yet. I just want to get better at surfing and enjoy things, then maybe in a year or two I’ll try to figure that out.”
Unfortunately, the wind looks onshore through the end of the waiting period. Pray for north wind ramps.
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