World No. 1 John John Florence Talks Titles, Lowers and Olympic Surfing

Forty-Eight hours away from the start of the WSL Finals and John John Florence is cool, confident and quieting his mind. Currently carrying the number one seed and wearing the yellow leader’s jersey, this is the first time Florence will have a shot at the world title in the Finals era. Looking to earn his third title, a win at Lower Trestles this week puts him in the company of surfing greats such as Gabriel Medina, Mick Fanning, Andy Irons and Tom Curren. Lofty company indeed. But Florence isn’t thinking about any of that legacy stuff. He body’s healthy, his mind’s strong and his boards are dialed. He’s potentially three heats away from the title. Thanks to the folks at Samsung, SURFER just sat down with Florence to talk story and read the tea leaves:

SURFER: Let’s start with an overview of your year, it’s been a busy one. A baby, the Olympics, sitting number one in the world, working on Florence with your brothers, tell me about it.
John John Florence: Just going into this year was like pretty overwhelming at first. If I go back to January, or even December of last year, there was lot happening—having our first baby, the Olympics, going on tour all year. And it's just a lot of travel. I was pretty nervous looking at it all, but I got into a mindset of taking really small steps, taking things one step at a time. That helps so much.

There were a lot of reminders of that throughout the year, kind of like pulling myself back and just enjoying things and relaxing. I remember Portugal was a really tough one. It was just so cold and stormy. We weren't surfing a lot. Then I lost pretty early in that event and I was super tense. But it was a good reminder for me to just to kind of be like, no, I made a promise to myself last year that I was just going to enjoy whatever happens and focus on the small steps no matter what—just moving on to the next one. After that I got onto a good role.

Yeah, you started building momentum.
Definitely, yeah. You just start feeling the rhythm of it. Then things starting kind of clicking into place in a way.

I made a promise to myself last year that I was just going to enjoy whatever happens

Then came the Olympics and you had to shift gears for that experience.
We had that big break right before the Olympics. I went to Tahiti about the same time that I usually go before events, like a week and a half or so. The Olympics are amazing. It was so fun. Regardless of my result, I just thought having that one really big day was so good for surfing. It was hard not to be stoked just because of how good the waves were and the general excitement around surfing as a whole.

That big day kind of caught people off guard.
I don't think any of us realized how big it was going to get. And then at the same time, I don't think any of us realized that the wind was going be so clean all morning. It was a really nice surprise. Everyone was kind of expecting it to be small. So, when it was that big and that west, I think everyone was caught off guard. It was pretty nerve wracking getting out there for your heat and seeing pretty much 10-foot rights coming from under the boats and, like, going sideways across the reef. I haven't surfed it that west before. The waves were coming so sideways out of the channel that some of them were, like, not even doing its normal thing. It was crazy.

And how was the overall Olympic experience? Just to be part of all of that feels like it would have been special?
It was so cool being part of that. It's a whole different type of atmosphere. You're part of a team, it’s pretty different from how we approach our normal events. You're living with a team of all these people that you're not really normally traveling with, and a lot of new faces too. I think that can make it challenging sometimes in terms of how you adjust and your daily routine. But other than that, it was an amazing experience.

The folks at Samsung reached out and help set this interview up. What kind of devices or technology were you using to document and share your time in Tahiti?
It’s pretty cool to have the technology we have nowadays when we travel, especially having access to friends, family and everyone back home at any moment of the day is pretty amazing for me. I was using the Samsung Flip a lot. There’s something really satisfying about the flip. And you have these eSIMs, I think that's so cool to be able to flip that on and have Internet, like fast Internet, especially down into Tahiti. It's tough down there sometimes with the Internet. The technology is amazing.

Physically, I feel really good. Mentally, feel really good. Boards feel great.

Let’s shift gears and talk WSL Finals. You're sitting number one in the world and wearing the yellow jersey. Feeling good? Body's good? Boards are good?
Yep, all the above. Physically, I feel really good. Mentally, feel really good. Boards feel great. I'm excited cause we put a lot of work into my boards the last couple of years and I feel like this year is the pinnacle of my boards.

And you got that little hurricane swell at Lowers before Fiji. How do sessions like that factor in?
It was really fun because, in my mind, I had an idea of what boards were going to work really well there. Then when I went and rode them and was like, oh yeah, yes, these feel really good here. Confirming that took a lot of weight off my shoulders and time out of the preparation. I'm essentially going to warmup, catch a couple waves at Lowers before the event, and I really don't need to think about much, which I feel like is the best version of competing.

Did you put those boards on ice now or is Pyzel making new versions of them for the event?
We made a couple new ones, but just to have fresh ones. A lot of the boards I tested at Lowers were the same ones I rode in El Salvador. My good board is the one I won on.

This is your first go in the WSL Finals format, obviously with the number one seed, you get to watch everybody surf all day. Do you have any thoughts, strategy?
So far, my thoughts are just to have good energy. You know, there's a possibility of surfing three hearts, and three heats back-to-back can be pretty tiring, so I'll probably get a surf in in the morning, feel the waves, get my feet in the wax, and then have a good rest at home before coming back down for my heat.

Related: Podcast: SURFER Talks WSL Finals With Dave Prodan on "The Lineup."

I feel like there's not too much to overthink about it. I mean, I kind of have an understanding that the there's probably a lot more people and things going on around the event down there, so I feel like I'm a little more mentally prepared for that. But for the most part, just kind of quieting my mind and keeping it simple and just surfing the best I can.

From early NSSA days and all those years that you've spent at Lowers, does that give you confidence and a peace of mind that you're familiar with the spot?
I think the confidence comes from the years in the Championship Tour was there. I've I had a couple really fun years on the CT there. I think of 2017 and around that time, those years where the waves were so fun. When I was just at Lowers I was reminded how fun and rippable that wave is.

Lowers really is a skate park for surfing, you can just play with the lip. It doesn't have so much power that it's pushing back at you, you can play with the power a lot. I think that's really, really cool.

Related: Surf Forecast: Probable Early Start for 2024 WSL Finals

Related: Photos: John John Florence Sneaks A Hurricane Swell Session At Lowers