This seems better than keeping up with the Joneses, doesn’t it? Photo: Instagram//Screenshot
The World Surf League’s Championship Tour will begin a new season in under a week, and when it does so at Bells Beach it will be without one of its biggest stars: John John Florence. One could argue that if the three-time world champion chose to put on a jersey anywhere in the world and against any competition, he’d be a favorite.
The plan, it seemed, was for Florence to return after his year off in 2025. But then Florence decided he would not join the tour again in 2026, and would take another year away.
“Exploring with my family we learned new ways of living, saw new places, found waves for all three of us, and woke up most days just excited to see more, and do it all together,”Florence said in January. “It really confirmed for us that this is our dream right now. We’ve decided to continue in 2026 with the goal of hopefully making a full lap of the world. I want to become a better surfer; I want to become the best father I can be and combine it all with nonstop adventure and curiosity.”
The explanation was easy to understand: Florence is enjoying life away from tour as a new father, traveling the world with his family. In a recent interview with People magazine (an odd publication to carry surfing content, BTW) he doubled down on that sentiment and raised further doubt on whether we’ll ever see him in a jersey again.
“I don’t think I fell out of love with surfing. It was more of my focus on surfing had changed so much to competing and everything felt like it was so much about competing,” he said about his years on tour and the need for a break. And after giving himself the well-deserved hiatus from tour in 2025, Florence said the possibility of coming back helped him realize he has a good thing going. “It’s kind of funny because I ended last year and I was planning to go back on tour and then I was like, ‘Damn, that was actually pretty fun. I think I’m going to do it again.'”
And that’s where things are now. JJF explained that he’s taking things year by year.
“I still feel really young and I still feel like I have a lot of years left to competing, but I’m really enjoying this right now, and so I don’t want to ignore that,” he added.
A return to the CT is one thing, but returning and qualifying for the 2028 Olympics is of course on his radar. If fans think a run at gold is enough to entice Florence back, it doesn’t appear to be. The new dad says he’ll make decisions on a case-by-case basis, and isn’t ruling out competing for a spot on Team USA. “At the same time,” he said, “it’s just like, ‘Yeah, what do I want to be there for?’ I don’t think I’ll go back to competing unless I really feel like, ‘Yes, I know what I want to do with it.’ Me going back to compete just to compete, it doesn’t feel very fulfilling for me.”
