The Highs, Lows, Wins, And Losses Of Parko’s Career

A couple of months back we saw part 1 of Billabong’s series, ‘Parko’s Last Lap’, where Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson discussed their cut-throat 2012 final at Teahupo’o. 

This morning, the ‘Bong dropped their second ep in the series surrounding Parko’s retirement, this time focussing on the lows and highs throughout Parko’s career. Namely his seemingly ‘sure thing’ title in 2009, and his belated maiden title win in 2012.

“Even when I was behind I still believed I was coming back and managed to fight my way back out of some pretty tough heats.” Joel recalled.

In 2009, heading into the middle of the year, Parko had reeled in three event wins – Snapper, Bells, and Jeffreys, – seemingly solidifying his title. That was until he incurred a severe ankle injury popping a straight air in Bali over the mid-year break. 

At this stage, Mick was all the way back in 8th, but by the time Pipe came, he and Joel were sitting first and second…

“I would go over and see him at the house to play footy before Pipe, and people were always like, ‘Are you playing mind games?'” Mick said about the showdown, “fuck no, I’m just hanging out with my mate.”

In 2012, the opportunity presented itself again and came all the way down to pipe up against the recent 11x World Champ, Kelly Slater.

This time, Parko came out on top. 

Slide back up above for an enlightening recap of these two years and all that occurred in between as we count down the events till Parko’s competitive goodbye this December.