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[waves crashing]
- [John] Your whole life you're building up
to winning a world title. [mysterious music]
And then you win it. And it's like, this is it.
This is gonna change everything.
You win your world title, and you're like,
"Wait, [laughs]
everything's still exactly the same."
You have like a month
and then you're resetting again, back to zero.
Coming into 2018, I was lost.
Everyone's so supportive and everyone's around you,
and everyone just wants you to win, I guess.
Which is good. It's all positive energy.
But I think unless you really have that deep sense of like,
knowing what you want within the sport,
you can get lost pretty easily.
- [Announcer] Scores coming in for Mendes, a 7.17.
Creates a massive upset, John John Florence
out of the Corona Bali Protected.
[mysterious music]
- [John] After that loss in Bali,
I wanted to go and be creative,and surf how I wanna surf.
Like in my mind, I have a picture in my mind
of how I like to surf.
And sometimes that can be blurred by the competition,
kind of box that you put it in.
And so when I lost, I went down the beach
and I was like, "I'm gonna surf the way I wanna surf."
And I did, and I had a lot of fun. [chuckles]
For about two hours.
- [Ross] He was visibly upset. [suspenseful music]
What excites John, in my opinion,
is surfing as good as he can.
That's his essence, underneath it all.
I could sense his frustration more than normal.
And he was just blasting huge airs, dangerous sections,
like out in the flats, buckling.
And I even, at one point, I actually motioned
to him like, "Hey, calm down," you know?
And sure enough,
a handful of waves later,
huge air, buckled his knee. [dramatic music]
Right away, it looked horrible.
- [John] I go to stand up and my knee
was just kind of locked sideways.
And I just kinda limped back to my hotel.
- [Ross] We went to the emergency room there in Denpasar.
Straightaway, right off the bat in Bali,
we're like, "Oh no, this doesn't look good."
[ominous music]
- [John] When it happened, I was just like,
"What do I do here?
Do I get surgery, or do I not get surgery?"
You just kinda gotta go on how you feel.
- [Ross] Messing up your ACL sucks.
It's a horrible injury, everyone knows it's bad.
You know, it doesn't wanna heal.
As a coach and as a friend, I felt horrible for him.
'Cause it just wasn't gonna be a simple answer.
- That's got a little tenderness in it,
but I think when I do this one--
- It sets it off. - It sets it off.
- In the end, he said "You know what,
it's not completely ruptured.
There's still a chance that my ACL could reattach itself
to the bone, let's just go for it."
And that ended up being his decision, to rehab it,
get as strong as possible, and take it from there.
- I just put my mind into like,
strengthening, slowly getting back.
And I worked through a lot of things,
months and months of training and different things.
It just kinda was like two steps forward, one step back.
Two steps forward, one step back
for months and months and months,
all the way up until the next year on tour.
[ambient music] [crickets chirping]
- Come on, come on, come on! [distant speaking]
[ambient music] [crickets chirping]
[waves crashing]
- [Ross] John's got this pretty long,
rigorous path ahead of him.
He's really good at putting his nose down
and getting to work, and that's exactly what he did.
He doesn't just kinda go for it and wing it.
He tries to set himself up as well as he can
to accomplish his goals.
Going into that year, his goal was definitely
to win a World Title and to get one
of those coveted American spots in the Olympics.
- [News Reporter] One year from today, the 2020 Olympics
will be holding its opening ceremony.
Tokyo is the host of the Summer Games
and there are many additions to the list of sports
on the schedule: baseball, softball, they're back.
Skateboarding is making its first ever appearance,
as well as surfing.
Every time a new event is added to the games,
a huge obstacle for the athletes,
figuring out how they're gonna qualify.
- [Ross] This was something that was unique to surfing.
Never has this been in the conversation.
It's always been about the World Title,
World Title, World Title.
Of course, John wants to be in the Olympics.
I mean, who wouldn't?
It was a thing. We had to talk about it,
like "Hey, you think you're gonna be ready?"
He just seemed like it was game on.
- [John] As I came in in 2019, if I look at the World Title
and I look at the Olympic qualification,
it just becomes too much to think about.
You get nervous, you get anxious,
you don't know what's gonna happen.
And that's the truth, youdon't know what's gonna happen.
And so the best thing you can do is prepare
and show up and do your best. [chuckles]
[didgeridoo blares]
[mysterious music]
- [Announcer] Welcome to the start
of the 2019 WSL Men's Championship Tour.
[ambient music]
- [Announcer] You know what I love about John,
is that he made sure that he was 100 percent healed up
before he made his debut on the tour again.
- [Announcer] Well, as far as we know.
He might not even be. He might be still recovering.
[mysterious music]
- [John] My first heat back was nerve-wracking.
I took off on my first wave,
and I just did this little frontside air.
And I was like "Oh, that felt pretty good."
Like no pain, nothing.
- [Announcer] Out the back,
live action, Florence up and launching!
- Wow! - Huge reverse
out of the pocket. [crowd claps and cheers]
♪ I fall so far
- [John] Ross and I made a plan to do all the prep work
at home and then show up and just be ready for the event.
- [Announcer] Look at the power
John John is putting into that wave.
Every single maneuver.
You can tell he's done a lotof hard work in the off-season.
[dramatic, resonant music]
- [John] I came up against Filipe in the quarters.
He started off a little further down the beach
and I started off deeper.
I just lucked into this perfect barrel, spit
and then came out and did a little air.
And I think that just fired me up
for the rest of the heat. [mystical, ambient music]
- [Announcer] The two-time World Champ has come to play.
Big confidence building heat for Florence.
Making his return to competition here
at the Quiksilver Pro.
- [John] I'm stoked, I'm in the semis against Kolohe.
The wind was blowing into the rights.
All I could see was air sections.
[swelling music]
- [Announcer] And it is John Florence
who's gonna get things started here early.
- [Announcer] John Florence now looking for a 4.61.
Looks like Florence is making his move.
This will be his last shot at it, five seconds to go!
Loading up, takes to the air,
gets the rotation, can't ride out.
And John Florence is out of the event
with a third place finish.
A great return to competition.
[dramatic, ambient music] - [John] First event back, a third.
[chuckles] I'll take that any day. I'm feeling good.
There's no pain, I didn't re-tweak my knee at all.
I was going into the next event pretty fired up.
[jingling music]
[waves crashing]
[insects chirping]
[distant waves crashing]
[gravel road] - [John] I can't see anything.
How can you see right now?
This is crazy.
[driver mutters]
You guys fired up? - [Kolohe] Oh, what?
Headphones on?
- [John] Are we going out?
- [Kolohe] Yeah. Whoa.
Well you have your suit on, so do I. [chuckles]
- [John] I'm ready to go.
Bells has become one of my favorite legs of the tour
because it's just beautiful, it's powerful.
And it's fun to come in and just feel totally exhausted
from just battling the ocean.
[driving rock music]
[thunder rumbles]
[lightning cracks]
- Bells can be small and bad. And it is,
pretty often, when we show up there.
You never know what you're gonna get.
There was a couple of days we were on hold
and they were like, "Yeah, we think we might run.
And it's, you know, waist high.
It's fun, a fun little rippable right,
but you're on a tiny epoxy board.
And then two days later, it's 10 feet and huge.
And [chuckles] I'm on my six two, just surviving out there.
[waves crashing] [suspenseful music]
- [Announcer] We're here at Bells
and it is absolutely pumping. [flags fluttering]
[ambient music]
[collision]
- [Announcer] He's over there at the other side.
He is at Winkipop, he's gone over the rock,
and is now getting picked up at Winkipop reef.
- [Ross] John's side of the draw was stacked.
He had to go through Owen, Gabe, Jordy,
and Filipe, which just, I don't know
if you could draw up a gnarlier stack
of contestants [chuckles] to go against.
When the waves have size, John is really tough to beat.
If it resembles anything like his home break,
look out, he's gonna destroy people.
[upbeat driving music]
- [John] I was excited going into the heat with Gabe.
He just won his second world title and
Gabriel has a crazy backhand at waves like Bells.
He had two waves that he absolutely surfed so well.
I'm fired up. I'm just like, "Okay, let's do this."
[driving music]
- [Announcer] John Florence is on his way
to potentially his best ever finish here at Bells Beach.
- [John] I was having a lot of fun competing,
but also just loosening up a little bit.
I get a lot of energy off of my friends.
[upbeat music]
[crickets chirping]
[distant talking]
- [John] Can you press start when that heat ends, 5:25?
- [Lauryn] Got it.
Big job.
- [John] Oh did it go?
- [Lauryn] No. Four, three, two, one.
Oh, you did it one second too early.
- [John] So Finals day comes around
and after Gabe's heat, I was just so tired,
I was paddling out against Jordy
and the waves were absolutely firing.
[driving rock music]
It's definitely nerve-wracking going up against him,
but when I just get into that mindset of like,
"How am I gonna surf this heat?"
then I just felt really comfortable with what I was doing.
- [Announcer] Florence, there's the big,
crushing layback finishing move
that he's been loving, here at Bells.
Wave growing in size, he belts it vertically.
Almost felt like the whole ocean was breathing.
- [John] And then the Finals, same day.
Again, I'm just so tired.
I'm like, "Okay, I know Filipe is really tired too."
Waves are pumping.
I just had that same mindset, I was like,
"I know I just have to wait for good open waves."
[upbeat rock music]
- [Announcer] Last score for Toledo not enough.
John John Florence
takes the big bell at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach,
for the first time in his career.
[crowd cheers and yells]
What a comeback story.
[crowd cheering and whistling]
[crowd cheers rising]
Your champion for the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach,
John John Florence! [bell clangs]
[crowd cheering]
- [Ross] Only a few months before that,
there was questions whether John should even do the Tour.
For all of a sudden, him to have a first and a third,
he's leading the ratings and he's smashing it,
as a coach, I'm psyched.
- [John] I'm just so stokedbecause it was just such a long
road getting to that point, of going through the injury,
going through all the questions about the injury.
Should I do surgery, should I not do surgery?
And then coming out with a win at Bells
in the second event of the year,
it just feels really good.
[ambient music]
I came out of it with so much confidence.
I just felt really excited about competing again.
[bells and percussive music]
- [Erik] Does he make you carry his boards
on Mother's Day all the time? [chuckles]
What's the deal here?
- [Mom] No, I offered. [chuckles]
- [John] I went into it, back in the yellow jersey again.
Knee is feeling super good, at this point.
[bright mellow music]
- [Announcer] John John Florence
getting started out the back.
With a couple of clean front side carves,
big air section, full rote, perfect landing.
- [Ross] Keramas is every Tour surfer's favorite wave.
John loves that wave, so his expectations
to get a result there are always high.
- [Announcer] John John Florence,
taking on Joan Duru, their first
head to head match up here.
Straight up into this first section.
Super explosive on the tail of the board.
Rips through a nice little foam climb there.
Doesn't get the finish.
- [Ross] John had a little bit
of a tight heat against Joan, where it was really 50/50.
[suspenseful, rattling music]
He just gave Joan every opportunity to win.
- [Announcer] Joan Duru 6.17, he jumps up into the lead.
Pressure is on Florence with a minute.
Can he hold his nerve?
He's got an opportunity here, swinging
into a medium sized set, five seconds remaining.
This is his last shot at it.
Drives up into the first section,
throws the air reverse [horn sounds] can't ride out.
And that is a huge upset result.
John Florence showed great form in this heat,
but Luke, it's Joan Duru's day.
[slow, dramatic music]
- [Ross] As far as a teaching moment,
it was kind of a good heat
'cause it was a little kick in the pants.
Gotta take this serious here, it's not as easy as I thought.
Coming off a third and a first,
it was just a little wake up call.
He's heading to West Oz, still looking
great for qualification for the Olympics.
So he didn't lose too much blood.
- [John] I kinda get a second to cool down.
And then, I just know we're going to West Oz,
which is such an amazing place in the world,
and one of my favorite places to go surfing,
in general, competing or not.
It just felt like a really fresh reset.
You get to West Oz and the weather's a little bit colder
that time of year. [birds tweeting]
It's beautiful, the water is this crystal clear blue.
The waves are big barrels and there's just a lot
of good energy and excitement there.
[water splashing] [mystical music]
[upbeat percussive music]
[ambient music]
- [Announcer] Welcome back to the Margaret River Pro.
The seeding round getting underway for the men now,
and we're kicking things off with a bang.
We've got John John Florencethe current Jeep ratings leader
with the greatest of all time,
the 11-time World Champ, Kelly Slater.
- [Ross] Kelly is like 48 and still wants to be in Tokyo.
[laughs] So you know he's trying to beat the grommet.
And then John's just looking at this freak like,
"Whoa, what is this guy doing in the water?"
It's already, we're talking about the Olympics
and sort of a little bit of a rivalry there.
[rock music]
- [Announcer] Beautiful carve to get started.
John John Florence lost out early at Keramas
in a very close heat with Joan Duru.
- [John] I'm still battling heats
against Kelly, who I was watching
when I was like 10 years old, win World Titles.
It's a funny dynamic.
- [Announcer] Love the way,
he just unloaded this rail turn in John Florence's face.
And these two are motivated, coming up against one another,
even in this early stage of the competition.
Slater will have to come through the elimination round.
The 26 year old Florence stays alive and powers on through.
[forest and bird sounds] [shutter clicks]
- [John] We know going into West Oz
There's fun activities to do, outside of surfing.
And you can get your mind off surfing and put your focus
into something else, just having fun with your friends.
[laughing] - Pizza for everyone.
- Yeah. - Dude, we got pizza, bro.
[friends exclaim]
- Good save! [laughing]
- [John] We had a couple days, just to hang out.
Our whole team's there.
We're just having fun and enjoying it.
If I don't stay active and I just sit around all day,
I feel way more tired the next day.
I think that's just so important,
to create that kind of environment around a surf contest.
You're not wasting tons of energy, but you have a focus.
- [Announcer] What a great Finallined up here at Main Break
today, Florence up against longtime friend
and fellow American, Kolohe Andino.
[calm, bright music] - [Ross] At this point,
I doubt John is too worried about qualifying. [chuckling]
He's probably looking at Kolohe and Kelly going,
"These guys gotta fight it out for that second spot."
- [Kolohe] Mine and John's relationship has been friendly
for the last, like four or five years.
He doesn't really show me that competitor's side
as much as he might show other people,
except for when we're in a heat.
- [Announcer] I mean just that drop alone Joe,
just to take off under the lip,
and then he goes into that first maneuver.
That was nothing, why?
Because watch this turn here.
[slow, dramatic music] - [Kolohe] The closer I get to him,
the more he shows me how competitive he is
and how into it he is.
- [Announcer] That is the epitome of speed, power,
and flow, what the judges are looking for.
[resonant, dramatic music] - All of a sudden,
Florence really just took over.
- [Kolohe] It's a pretty difficult wave
to surf and not that many of the guys like it.
I think his mindset does a lot of the work.
- [John] I just never, at one point, felt stressed
or anxious like, "Oh, like I need to get a wave."
I was just like, "Okay," and then a wave'd come.
And I go, "This is the one I want."
- [Announcer] John will take priority
and lay down a massive layback hack off the lip.
There's the carve to tail release.
[mystical music]- [Ross] John competes the best.
Not when he's trying to destroysomeone like the Terminator.
It's more like trying to outfox his friends.
- [Announcer] And there it is.
Your Champion, even without that last wave.
John John Florence is your 2019Margaret River Pro Champion
for the second time in hiscareer, in an incredible final.
Let's give a warm welcome for our two-time World Champ.
Your event winner once again, at the Margaret River Pro.
John John Florence! [crowd cheers and whistles]
- [Ross] John is way out in first.
It's one of the best starts
in the history of competitive surfing.
- [John] Two wins and a third, it's exciting.
We're going to Brazil, going to stay with Kolohe.
We're first and second in the world.
We're first and second in the Olympic qualification.
I'm just feeling good. [bright, ambient music]
I'm feeling like the best I've ever felt
in a competition mindset.
[blades whirring]
[bright, expectant music]
- [John] We have our own little beach break peak,
like right in front of the house.
Me, Kolohe and Gabe were tryingto run little mock heats.
Kolohe's a really fun person to be around.
He's so fired up on competing,
and he's got such a high energy about him.
- [Kolohe] I feel like Johntries to find really bad waves,
so then he could watch me surf bad waves,
'cause he knows that's what I surf every day.
Which is cool, whatever. [chuckles]
[bouncy, lively music]
[child exclaims]
[thuds]
[splash]
[slow, ominous music] - [Announcer] Welcome
to beautiful Saquarema, Brazil for the Oi Rio Pro.
- [John] I had a lot of heats where I was kinda
half in, half out
Not really committing to just surfing a wave competitively,
but also wanting to do something big.
Still, I was making it through heats and I was like,
"Okay, just keep rolling through these heats."
- [Announcer] John John Florence powering
off the bottom, beautiful snap.
Patient, waiting his time.
Oh look at this section, ohh and a
beautiful speed carve.
- [John] There was a little bit of me
that was feeling this kind of uneasiness.
The wind is blowing into the rights.
We're surfing like a six-foot wedge
that just wedges into a huge air section.
So in my mind, I'm just like, "Tone it back.
You just gotta surf this heat, just gotta surf this heat."
[music builds] - [Announcer] Here goes John John
on the outside, dragging the anchor.
He comes through the section clean.
Will he go for something big on the end here?
No he pulls into another big closeout section
But very well executed.
- [Ross] I'm just trying to get him
to think about the basics, so that he doesn't just ramp up
the whole heat, and throw it away.
- [John] I'm like fightingmyself, going out in this heat.
"I wanna do a 10 foot backflip,I wanna do a huge backflip.
Like, I gotta land a big backflip."
This one big wedge comes in and I'm taking off on it.
And I'm like, "Oh, this is a huge ramp.
Then when I got into the wave I was like,
"Aw, it's not a good ramp. I just gotta fly out the back."
[ominous music]
- [Announcer] Oh, John's hurt himself here, I think.
- [John] I just felt this big pop. Just the deepest pain.
[crashing]
- [Ross] It didn't have red flags right away
until he came in.
The second he came in and he had that weird hop,
I was like, "Oh no, there's his knee."
- [John] And I was just like, "Damn it.
Are you kidding me right now?
Is this really happening again?"
[sinister music]
Just trying to think in my head,
like "Okay, what do I do here?"
I'm gonna just do everything I can
that I have here in Brazil.
If I wake up and it feels good, I'm gonna surf and then,
if I wake up and it doesn't feel good, I got a fifth."
I wake up and it feels absolutely terrible.
Swollen, stiff. I can barely walk.
I'm just like, "Okay."
- [Announcer] We got the update
from John's camp, Brandon Wasserman.
Contacted us this morning, saying
that John doesn't feel confident to surf today.
So he's officially withdrawing
from the quarterfinal match against Jordy Smith
and he's gonna seek further treatment.
- [Erik] See you on the other side, Johnny.
- [John] We got an MRI that night
and the doctors like "Oh, you completely blew your ACL."
[speaking Portuguese]
- He thinks it's still the same, ya know?
- [John] It was just bizarre to be in this situation again,
after having gone through it the year before, and the year
before being I wasn't having a very good year on tour.
But then this year, the contrast
of having [chuckles] the best year ever on tour
that I've ever had, the best start I've ever had.
The best position I've been in, the Olympic qualification,
all this stuff, and then it just being stopped again
by this same injury, essentially.
[slow, dramatic music]
- [Doctor] This hurts, just doing that?
- [John] Yeah, I feel likethat's more sore than last time.
- Yeah. - That's sore, there.
- Let me see, one, that's pretty good, 130.
And here's your ACL and it's just going, it's just off.
It's just blown right through there. I mean, it should
See how you can see it come in and attach right there?
- Yeah.
- You're getting nothing right through there.
- This will be considered a full reconstruction, right?
- Correct. - And the recovery time
of that is-- - Six months, six months.
- Okay, 'til you start surfing?
I'm in this position that's really hard
because I have a big lead in points.
My decision was either surgery or brace my knee up
and hope it doesn't get any more injured
for the rest of the year.
I don't wanna keep dealing with this injury.
So I just decided to do the surgery.
[waiting room voices]
- [John] Thank you. - [Nurse] This is Versed.
This is like a couple of shots of tequila
without the calories and the hangover.
[faint conversation]
[muttering]
[slow piano] - [John] When I decided to do the surgery
I knew I was giving up the World Title.
I wanna be good in the long term.
I wanna be able just to go surfing
and I wanna be able to do airs into the flats,
and go foiling and all these things that I love to do.
That was my main thing.
- [Nurse] Pretty wild, right?
- [Erik] Do you love animal crackers? [monitor beeping]
- [John] I love animal crackers.
The timeline for 100 percent was 9 to 14 months.
Some guys will come back at five.
That just gave me that little bit of hope and I was like,
"Okay, Pipe's right about for that five month mark."
Knowing I had to give up the World Title was difficult
in the beginning. [slow music]
I kinda pivoted all my mindset onto recovering,
and then the Olympics is still a possibility for me.
I knew I was gonna end up in the top 10,
maybe not in the top 5, but there's a really good chance
that I'd finish pretty well here.
- [Ross] It's about two guys passing John.
It was an outside chance, but we knew that Kelly Slater
and Seth Moniz were gonna have
to fight to get past him, points wise.
- [John] The way I've learned to handle change
really has come from competing.
When you lose, take what you can,
learn from it, and just move onto the next thing.
There was a little bit of excitement for me.
I got back from California and I was like,
"Okay, I'm gonna go do these other things
that I don't normally get to do."
[uplifting music]
Took some of that energy and put it into the land
and we just learned, month to month, week to week.
Now, we're at a point where we're growing so much food,
I can't give it away quick enough.
We have honeybees and we have four hives now.
The bees are a complex little system
and I try to learn as much as I can.
- [Beekeeper] So they say if you move it like 20 feet,
they'll all be lost and they won't be able
to find their hive. - [Lauryn] Really!?
- [Beekeeper] Like that's how specific they are.
- [Beekeeper] Yup, exactly.
- [John] I hate working out in the gym.
I like being outdoors. [music rises]
If I'm gonna go ride the bike for 40 miles
or I'm gonna go paddle for 15 miles,
that's my favorite thing in the world.
I'll do that every single day,
even if I'm tired and don't wanna do it.
And then, I got to do one of the most amazing trips
of my life. [electric guitar]
Powered by the wind and the sun,
we sailed a thousand miles south,
to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
It was one of the best summers I've had.
[friends exclaiming and laughing]
The Line Islands is a special place in the world.
[splashes]
Going there, I was just blown away at how much life
and how complex the system is.
[bright music]
The variety of different types of coral,
different types of fish, the variety of birds;
everything around there is incredible to see.
Doing this trip is something I've dreamed about
for a long time now.
Your whole world shrinks down to that boat
and that's the main part of why I love it so much.
For a month down there, I didn't really care
what was happening on the Tour.
[music changes] - [Ross] Surprisingly, ya know
Kelly did pretty poor throughout the year.
He had one or two okay results,but he didn't pass John.
- [John] We still got a little bit of work to do,
but I was just like, "I can't give Kelly Slater
that opportunity at Pipeline." [chuckles]
My whole mindset was like, "I'm gonna train as much
as I can and I'm gonna prepare myself the best I can."
I wanna see if I can qualify for the Olympics.
[upbeat percussive music]
- [Ross] He got surgery, only four or five months prior.
He does not have the green light to just go
take off on a 12 foot wave at Pipe.
- [John] I don't know how my knee is gonna work right now.
I tried to just do a couple of cutbacks,
[chuckles] make it look like I'm fine.
In my mind I was like,
there's no way I can do the Pipe contest.
- [Ross] The Olympics bring so much
to the plate, media from all over the place.
Like is John surfing Pipe?
Nobody knew, John did not know.
- [John] I'm just gonna keep training
and keep preparing myself like I'm gonna do it.
It was just amazing
those couple of weeks, how much better I got how fast.
[funky upbeat music]
- [Ross] It's your decision,it's your body, it's your life.
Why don't we just look at the waves the day of,
and see if it's something you can handle?
And that's kinda how he took it.
He just wanted to see what the waves were like,
see how Kelly did, sorta take it day by day.
[expectant music]
- [Kelly] I'm really proud of John, but I think inevitably,
for both he and I, there's some level of uncomfortability
because we're going to beclashing and I used to be a guy
that would look out for him at Pipeline.
Like make sure he's staying in a safe place
when he was a little kid, ya know?
Now, he's the best guy in the world.
He's just become an incredible surfer.
I've put in 40 years to competition.
The Olympics, for me, it would probably be once
in a lifetime 'cause of my age
and where I'm at in my career.
It just all comes down to the skill level at the time,
and you just have to surf your way on.
You have to compete your way on.
- [John] Kelly is the greatest competitive surfer
of all time. By far.
Being a little kid watching him
at the Pipe Masters was incredible to grow up and see.
He won his first world title the year I was born.
It was definitely a bit stressful
because I wanna make the Olympics,
I know he wants to make the Olympics.
It just creates tension.
[music builds]
- [Ross] Since the late 80's and 90's,
we've all been hanging out at the Johnson's house
during the Pipe Masters. Kelly and all of us.
John John, ya know, that's also his camp.
Now all of a sudden, you have just a little bit
of odd friction.
- [Kelly] It's hard for people not to see some kind of
separation between the contest and friendship.
To me, it's like two guys are going into the cage
to fight each other, and you either touch gloves before
or you don't. And I generally just touch gloves.
[tense, bright music]
- [Beach Announcer] Check-in for jerseys
John John Florence, Ace Buchan, Jesse Mendes. Check in
- [John] That morning, I was like,
Okay, it's not very good for my knee,
I'm just gonna paddle out and see how I feel out there.
I don't need to catch waves.
- [Announcer] Ladies andgentlemen, John John Florence is
back in competition, cheer him on. [cheering]
- [John] I paddle out and I get in the heat and I get
in that mindset and a lot of that goes out the window.
- [Announcer] Here we go with John John.
[music building] - Stalls
A little cylinder there for JJF and he comes out.
- Once he got that first round
out of the way, he was like, "Okay, let's do this."
- [John] It just fired me up and it slingshotted me
into that competitive mindset.
[crowd cheers]
- [Kolohe] I thought he was just done for the year.
I thought Kelly would eventually pass him
because you know, Kelly's Kelly.
So I was excited for him.
- [Kelly] My strategy at Pipe this year was just to
try and win the contest.
I felt confident going out.
[music and cheering crowd]
- [Announcer] Wide open, bonus section
and Slater's still traveling, driving
through an impossible section, Kelly makes it!
[crowd cheers]
That's what you call a perfect 10.
- [Kelly] That was about as fired up
as I've ever been for any wave. Ever.
- [Trainer] Five, four, three, two,
and hold on and stretch, just hold at the top.
Really flex, engage, engage, engage.
- [Ross] We're taking it day by day.
It's all about the conditions.
It's all about John's knee.
- [Ross] What are you feeling?
Where's your head space? - [John] I feel good.
I feel super good. - Just as far as competing,
what's your-- - Just keep going
if it's small and manageable.
But if it gets to a point where it's like,
doubled-up and weird Pipe,
you know how it is when those swells are filling in,
and it's just like, not even Pipe.
- [John] I was like, I just gotta keep making heats
'cause Kelly's still going.
He's getting tens and nines and really pushing me.
[music rising]
- [Announcer] Florence now paddling out
to face Zeke Lau in a crucial round of 32 heat.
- [John] I was just so fired up
to be getting barreled at Pipe
I forgot how much I missed it.
[crowd cheering]
- [Announcer] John Florence, locked in an absolute bomb.
He'll find his way through. Hands behind the back.
He's got the win.
What a performance.
[crowd cheering] Florence and Slater,
now both on their way to the quarterfinals.
- [John] I thought the last one was just gonna be such a
good wave. I was just like, "I have to go."
- I was sitting, I was watchingyou with the two Doctors
And they both went [laughing]
- That um, that made me have to come over.
[laughing]
- Right when I saw you yesterday I was just
- Ahh! [laughing]
- [Ross] So now we're boiled all the way down
to the quarter finals.
It was one of the only events I can ever recall us
talking about specific results, and what it meant.
We knew Kelly had to win the event to pass John
[music builds]
- [Announcer] On the outside, Freestone lines one up.
Late drop into this one, does well to hang onto it,
and he's gonna get the finish. - Wow.
Throws the arms up.
- [Ross] Kelly has a reallyclose heat with Jack Freestone.
- [Announcer] Finds a nice line into this one
The wave holding open.
Kelly driving through this one, finds his way through.
- [Ross] It was gonna be gnarly
for someone to beat Kelly at the Pipe Masters.
He just would not lose.- [Announcer] Slater locked in.
[crowd cheering] He's coming through! He emerges
- [Ross] John looks at me, he'slike, "Are you kidding me?"
Like [chuckles] this guy is 48 years old
and I'm still trying my hardest to beat this guy.
We definitely knew that Kelly was gonna battle
for that spot and be really tough to beat.
So John draws Gabriel, his biggest rival on tour.
The waves are big, it's like 8 to 10 feet.
It's cranking pipe.
- [John] I don't really care about the World Title race.
I'm here to do what I came here to do
Is qualify for the Olympics and one of the main reasons
why I'm surfing here today with my knee
and why I trained so hard these last couple weeks.
I was fired up and I was like, "I'd love to beat him,
just coming out of this injury right now."
I went out there and I had aplan in my head and I was like,
I'm just gonna get the good waves.
[suspenseful music] - [Announcer] Medina already swinging
against John John Florence, bottom drops out.
Gabriel Medina gets sucked back into the pit by Pipeline.
Florence grabbing the rail now, big section, beats that.
[crowd cheering] More room to move and he'll get
shut down as well on the exit.
This is just what we expected,
in a heat with two all-time rivals.
- [John] The tactics he was playing in that heat were just
insane. Ya know, he's got priority
He didn't have to commit to the wave, but
he was just where I wanted to go.
- [Announcer] Gabriel setting up a huge, frontside air
and just slides away.
Florence, scoops into this thing, slides out that tail
to get the most he can out of the barrel [cheering]
and there's that local crowd.
- [John] He was just on bombs behind my waves, every time.
He comboed me, it was pretty unfortunate.
[crowd cheering] - [Announcer] Here goes Medina
Solid section, wide open!
Ohh, wow.
Gabriel off the lip, a frontside punt
on one of the best-executed combinations of the day.
[music falls off]
- [Ross] Gabriel smashes him.
I mean, Gabe just had a dream heat.
- [Announcer] At this point,
John's done what he came to do.
Kelly Slater must now win the Pipe Masters
to overtake Florence's spot in the Olympics.
[funky, upbeat music]
- [John] There's a really good chance
of Kelly winning at Pipe
He's won it more than anyone in the world has.
- [Announcer] This is gonna be a monster challenge.
Italo hasn't had a victory here at the Pipe Masters.
Slater, seven victories
surfing in the event for the 27th time.
- [Ross] John watched every minute
Ya know, it was pretty intense.
- [Announcer] Eyeing something off of the Backdoor here.
This wave bowling up quite nicely.
Slater locked in, the wave spits
and he doesn't come through this one.
Italo now he gets an opportunity
A cupped out Pipe wave and he gets spat out.
A low-road exit straight on the rail,
and an opportunity to attack the lip here as well.
- [Ross] Just kinda watching every minute,
just waiting for Kelly to do his freakish thing
and get some crazy wave at backdoor. Something.
- [Announcer] Slater again, eyes on back door,
this wave starting to pitch, holding open just for a moment
before pinching on the face.
Italo lining up an insider, this is without priority.
Ducks under it and still gunning.
And the wave pinches, but Italo manages to stay
on his feet and find the exit. [crowd cheering]
- [Ross] The magic definitely left Kelly.
Italo smashed him.
That was impressive, because Kelly is not easy
to beat out there.
- [Announcer] Such a big moment for John
After all he's done to give himself this opportunity.
[crowd cheering and clapping]
- [John] 2019 was an incredible year.
The best start I ever had in competing
Starting with a third, then going on to win at Bells
Having kind of a down moment at Bali,
but kind of learning a lot from it and then
Just going into West Oz and winning again.
[crowd cheering]
Feeling really good, stoked to be competing, everything.
And then, having an injury that pretty much takes
that whole plan and throws it out the window.
It just gives me tons of time to spend
with friends, family, time that I don't normally have
because I'm on tour. [calm, bright music]
I get to do all these other things that I love to do.
Now, I'm so stoked for the Olympics.
[all cheering]
- [Ross] It was such a big,
dramatic, emotional accomplishment
because he knew that he was putting his body on the line.
For him to accomplish that meant everything to John.
It was almost like he won a World Title,
even though he didn't that year.
- [Nathan] Dude, congrats.
- [Kelly] I hate John.
Next question, no.
I gotta keep on my toes here to beat this kid, ya know?
I had my opportunities, I was pretty much one heat away
from being on the team, but I made a lot of mistakes
throughout the year, I didn't have a great year.
So I proved that you gotta havethe best guys at that time.
- [News Reporter] The 2020 Summer Olympics,
now the latest major sports cancellation caused by
the global COVID-19 pandemic.
- We're following breaking news right now
that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed
until next year.
- [Ross] I think this gives everyone some perspective.
It gives them some time away
to fuel up, get that psych back.
If it's 2021, the tour starts,
it could be the best show ever.
- [John] My mindset has just gone to really taking the time
to find that deep excitement for what I have
in competitive surfing and looking forward
to the 2021 Olympics, I can't wait.
[upbeat music]