John John Florence has recovered nicely from his early-season stumbles. After his win in Rio he earned himself another Finals berth Saturday at the J-Bay Open, jumping to World No. 2 on the Jeep Leaderboard in the process.
While Florence has traditionally leaned hard on his raw talent, his solid performances at Supertubes were the result of some very hard work. The Hawaiian arrived early to South Africa to put his time in on the legendary point, and get used to its wild array of conditions that completely alter the personality of the wave, and how it must be ridden.
The preparation paid off, as John confronted a variety of conditions along the way. With the runner-up finish he's now just 2350 points behind Jeep Leader Matt Wilkinson with five events left to go.
With Teahupoo and Trestles ahead, he'll be hoping to close the gap, but he's got a long list of foes in his way, including World No. 3, Gabriel Medina.