Caroline Marks and John John Florence have won the Surf City El Salvador Pro CT event. Photos: WSL
The Surf City El Salvador Pro is done and dusted, with Caroline Marks and John John Florence taking out their respective fields. The pair are certainly no strangers to world titles and both are in contention again this year: Marks looking to follow up on her 2023 Championship Tour title, and John John Florence having two under his own belt, the last coming in 2017. Both Marks’ and Florence’s win in Central America came down to hard-won finals in firing conditions at Punta Roca.
The men’s event ended with a matchup between JJF and Yago Dora. Florence immediately set a brutal pace with an opening 8.5 score, thanks to a snap paired with a massive air. He followed it up with a 7.83 that had Dora on the ropes. However, after struggling to cobble together a response with a series of missed airs and lackluster rides, Dora pulled off an explosive 9.77 to get back in the game. That series of aggressive snaps, capped with a full rotation air certainly got JJF’s attention during the back half of the heat, but Dora ultimately was unable to follow it up with a significant score. In the end, those opening waves from Florence were enough to give him the win – his first since Pipeline in 2021.
“That was tough,” he told AJ McCord in a post-heat interview. “I got a little bit lucky in the end, that it just went flat. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, how am I going to hold Yago off? He’s gonna go on a medium-sized closeout and get a nine.’ It was really a tough one, but I’m just so stoked. I was going to be really bummed if I got another second.”
Coming out of the event, Florence remains in the number one spot on the rankings and solidifies his place in the final five. Jack Robinson’s quarterfinal finish bumped him up to second, trading places with Griffin Colapinto. The other change in the top five was Jordy Smith unseating Italo Ferreira at the five spot with his own quarterfinal finish. The biggest movers overall were Gabriel Medina and Yago Dora, who were catapulted to sixth and eighth, respectively.
The women’s event closed with a final between Caroline Marks and Gabriela Bryan. Compared to the men’s, this one was a little bit slower to start. Marks established a lead early with a 7.00 and a 5.93, while Bryan failed to post any significant scores in the top half. Then, midway through, both surfers finally came online with back-to-back shows of technical prowess. In the end, the decision came down to a fraction of a point, with Marks scoring two 7.40 waves for 14.80 overall, barely topping Bryan’s 14.46.
“I’m really happy to be back in winning form. It feels great,” said Marks in an interview afterwards. When asked what the win meant for her end-of-season prospects, she stated the obvious: “It means a lot. I want to be in that final five and I want to back up my world title. I want to be at Lowers and hopefully win in front of my friends and family again.” Still, another title for Marks would certainly do wonders for her legacy, solidifying her among the all-time greats.
In the women’s rankings, the names in the top five remain the same, but their positions were shaken up after El Salvador. Caity Simmers took over the number one spot, with Marks just a few points back. Behind them are Brisa Hennessy, Molly Picklum and Johanne Defay. Otherwise, apart from Bettylou Sakura Johhnson trading places with Tatiana Weston-Webb for the number seven and eight spots, respectively, the rest of the board was unchanged.
Next up is the VIVO Rio Pro in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 22-30.
