If you haven’t heard, John John Florence is on a pretty good run at the moment. A win in Rio, a quarterfinals appearance in Fiji and back to back finals runs in South Africa and Tahiti launched twelve from 13th on the Jeep Leaderboard to where he sits today: right at the top.
We can now make an argument this rivals Florence’s 2014 hot streak, which started halfway through the year after a 13th at J-Bay. From there JJ finished 3rd in Tahiti, had back to back finals runs with a win at the Quiksilver Pro France, then semifinals and quarterfinals runs in Portugal and Hawaii, leaving him just short of that first world title. What’s the difference this time? For one, John John’s turning it on much earlier in the season – potentially with his two throwaways already in the bag – but most importantly, he has that 2014 experience under his belt now. And just about any athlete in any sport will tell you the seasoning of coming up just short early on pays dividends down the road.
Hurley’s newest episode of “Twelve” highlights the bulk of this new hot streak, following Florence through Rio, Cloudbreak and J-Bay. If you haven’t started following the series yet it’s well worth the watch. Narrated by #12 himself it’s a solid 15+ minutes of peeling back the curtain on what just might turn into the man’s first world title.
